Characterizing the Microbial Communities in Caribbean Environments

The island of Trinidad hosts diverse environmental microbial communities due to various geographical features such as swamps, plains, mud volcanoes, rivers, and underground and underwater oil and natural gas reserves. We explore this environmental complexity by using genomics approaches to characterize the microbial communities in these different habitats. To date we have generated 16S sequence data from swamp soil, various rivers and swamps, mud volcanoes, petroleum seepage sites, methane vents, Sulphur springs, landfill soil, and domestic water. 

Data analysis is currently underway, and we anticipate several interesting findings from these diverse geographical sites.

Funding