We are super thrilled to have been awarded an NSF Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms grant!! It is a collaborative grant together with Ben Baiser at University of Florida, Erica Young at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Zac Freedman at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sarah Gray from the University of Fribourg and Dominique Gravel from Université de Sherbrooke are international collaborators. Our project is titled: Using successional dynamics, biogeography, and experimental communities to examine mechanisms of plant-microbiome functional interactions (more info here). We will be using Sarracenia purpurea pitcher plant microcosms as our study system.