Director of SBS Gillian Lewis

Professor

Phone: 09-3737599 x87396
Rm 348A
Email: gd.lewis@auckland.ac.nz

The Research Group

Professor Gillian Lewis (Group Leader)
Dr Gavin Lear (Post Doctoral Research Fellow)
Yimin Dong (Research and Teaching Technician)
Andrew Dopheide (Research Technician)
Sarveshni Pillay (Administration Assistant)
Kelly Roberts (PhD Student: Bacterial biofilm in streams)
Vidya Washington (PhD Student: Biofilm formation by key bacterial species )
Pierre Ancion (PhD Student: Biofilm manipulation to support stream restoration )
Jo Smith (PhD Student: A Novel Mn depositing stream bacteria)
Joanne Hewitt ( PhD Student : Human Adenovirus: a surrogate for the presence of enteric viruses in food and water based at ESR Porirua)
Anne-Marie Perchec (MSc Student : Is there an environmental clade of Escherichia coli?)

Biofilm Research

Stream biofilms are the focus of our current research. This work focuses on the structure, function and ecological roles of these complex communities.

See the stream biofilm website at www.streambiofilm.org.nz

Current and ongoing projects

Relationship between bacterial community diversity and functional diversity in stream biofilms
Influence of light and flow regimes on bacterial communities in stream biofilms.
Microbial biofilms for enhancement of stormwater treatment systems.
Microbial biofilms for monitoring the ecological health of streams.
The importance of rare bacteria in mixed communities.
Stream microbial food webs

Past, Completed Projects

Distribution, persistence and fate of human viruses in aquatic systems
Contaminants of Oyster farms by microbial pathogens and indicators
Source distribution and implications of microbial contamination of beaches
Microbiological components and activity in reducing contaminants in stormwater treatment systems
Alternative microbial indicators and water quality
Virus transfer to the air by bubble bursting
Bacterial resuspension from sediments: implications for water quality
Microbial assemblages in wetlands receiving wastewater
The influence of bacterial viruses on the bacterial population dynamics in wastewater treatment systems
Human viruses in New Zealand Rivers
Microbial intervention to reduce methane emissions from waste treatment systems

Recent Book Contributions

"Microbial Biofilms: Current Research and Applications" (edited by Gavin Lear and Gillian D. Lewis) http://www.horizonpress.com/biofilms

Recent Significant Reports

Lewis GD, G. Lear and P-Y Ancion. 2009. Stormwater changes bacterial communities and ecological function in streams. Proceedings NZWWA 6th South Pacific Stormwater Conference, 29th April - 1st May 2009, Auckland, New Zealand

Lewis GD: Enteric Zoonoses Pathogens Outside The Host: Transmission Persistence. Distribution Detection And Risk Potential: Report Of Enteric Zoonoses Steering Committee Workshop 30 April Wellington. pp 12

Recent Conference Presentations

G.D. Lewis, G. Lear, I K.M Roberts.K.G. Boothroyd, A. Dopheide, Enhancing Ecosystem Services in your stream? It’s the little things that count. New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society Annual Conference New Plymouth 24 -27 November 2008

Boothroyd,IKG, Colley E, Lewis GD. Restoring Streams: Colonisation of Biofilm and Macrobenthic invertebrate communities on surfaces in streams. New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society Annual Conference New Plymouth 24 -27 November 2008

Lewis G D, G Lear, S.Turner, I Boothroyd, R Stott, K Roberts, P Ancion, A Dopheide, v. Washington, J Smith, D Knight: Bacteria the invisible Powerhouse of stream ecosystem function. New Zealand Microbiology Society Annual Conference: Christchurch 18 - 21 November 2008. Key Note Address

Lewis G D, G Lear, S.Turner, I Boothroyd, R Stott, K Roberts, P Ancion, A Dopheide, v. Washington, J Smith, D Knight: Stream Restoration: Getting the microbial ecology right. 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008 (poster)

Dopheide A , G Lear, R Stott, G D Lewis: Ciliate Diversity in Stream Biofilms revealed by group-specific PCR primers. 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008

Roberts K, G Lear, S. Turner, G D Lewis: What drives bacterial community structure in stream biofilms? 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008

Washington V, S Villas-Boas, GD Lewis: Metabolomics as a novel approach to study mixed species biofilms of stream bacteria exhibiting mutualistic and antagonistic responses: 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008

Smith J, GD Lewis: Unusual Bacterially mediated manganese-based structures within biofilms from urban streams. 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008

Ancion P, G Lear, Lewis G D: Effects of Storm water metal contaminats on microbial communities in stream biofilm revealed by Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis (ARISA): 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008

Lear G, J Smith, K Roberts, I Boothroyd, GD Lewis: Use of whole-community bacterial indicators to monitor ecological health, function and variability within freshwater stream biofilms. 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology: ISME12, Cairns, Australia, August 17-22 2008

Recent Publications

G Lear, I K G Boothroyd, S J Turner, K Roberts, G D Lewis. (2009). A comparison of bacterial and benthic invertebrate community assemblages as indicators of ecological health within freshwater streams.. Freshwater Biology 54: 1532-1543..

G Lear, S J Turner and G D Lewis. (2009). Effect of light regimes on the utilisation of an exogenous carbon source by biofilm bacterial communities.. Aquatic Ecology 43: 207-220.

G Lear and G D Lewis (2009). Impact of land use on bacterial communities within stream biofilms.. Ecological Indicators 9: 848-855.

G Lear and G D Lewis (2009). Nested Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis: A rapid and accurate method for comparison of bacterial community composition.. Journal of Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology 17: 257-270.

G Lear, D Niyogi, J Harding, Y Dong and G D Lewis. (2009). Biofilm bacterial community structure in streams affected by acid mine drainage.. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75 (11) 3455-3460. .

G Lear, M J Anderson, J P Smith, K Boxen, G D Lewis (2008). Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the bacterial communities in stream epilithic biofilms.. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 65 (3): 463-473.

A Dopheide, G Lear, R Stott, G D Lewis. (2008). Molecular characterisation of ciliate diversity in stream biofilms.. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 74(6):1740-1747 (and journal front cover).

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