People | David L. Kirchman

David L. Kirchman
Maxwell P. and Mildred H. Harrington Professor
Marine Biosciences
University of Delaware
College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
222 Cannon Lab
 Lewes, DE 19958
 Phone: 1-302-645-4375

kirchman@udel.edu

 

Education

  • B.A., magna cum laude, Biology, Lawrence University, 1976.
  • M.S., Environmental Engineering, Harvard University, 1979.
  • Ph.D., Environmental Engineering (Microbiology), Harvard University, 1982.

Research Interests

Microbial ecology of heterotrophic, photoheterotrophic and chemoautotrophic bacteria in aquatic environments (mainly estuaries and oceans); role of microbes in the carbon cycle; phylogenetic structure of bacterial assemblages as revealed by molecular techniques

Methods used in the Kirchman lab.

Kirchman's complete CV

Also see Center for Environmental Genomics and a collaboration with the Observatoire Oceanologique de Banyuls sur mer

Current Projects

  • Role of photoheterotrophic microbes in DOM uptake
  • Heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic bacteria and archaea in coastal waters of Antarctica
  • Metagenomic analysis of uncultured microbial assemblages

Research Group

  • Matthew T. Cottrell, Associate Scientist (Ph.D., Marine Science, University of Texas, Austin, 1995) - Ecology of heterotrophic marine bacteria including degradation of organic matter, bacterial chitinases and phylogenetic diversity in assemblages of marine bacteria. Innovative tools (Micro-FISH) establishing links between diversity in natural assemblages and variation in metabolic capacity.
  • Liying Yu, Research Specialist - Applications of molecular techniques in microbial ecology.
  • Mrinalini P. Nikrad, Ph.D. Student, Marine Biosciences (B.S., Ecology, University of Colorado, 2003; M.S., Biomedical Sciences, University of Colorado, 2008) - Microbial ecology of heterotrophic bacteria in polar oceans.
  • Monica R. Stegman, M.S. Student, Marine Biosciences (B.S., Biology, Haverford College, 2010).
  • Thomas Lankiewicz, M.S. Student, Marine Biosciences (B.A., Grinnell College, 2011) - Growth rates of specific bacterial taxa in coastal waters.

Teaching

Microbial Ecology, Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, Writing Scientific Papers.

Selected Publications

Click here for complete list

Landa, M., Cottrell, M.T., Kirchman, D.L., Blain, S., and I. Obernosterer.  2013. Changes in bacterial diversity in response to dissolved organic matter supply in a continuous culture experiment. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 69:157-168.

Boeuf, D., Cottrell, M.T., Kirchman, D.L., Lebaron, P., and C. Jeanthon. 2013. Summer community structure of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria in the western Arctic Ocean. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol.  In press.

Campbell, B.J., and D.L. Kirchman. 2013. Bacterial diversity, community structure and potential growth rates along an estuarine salinity gradient. ISME J. 7:210-220.

Kirchman, D.L. 2013. Microbial oceanography: Killers of the winners. Nature 494:320-321.

Kirchman, D.L., and T.E. Hanson. 2013. Bioenergetics of photoheterotrophic bacteria in the oceans. Environ. Microbiol. Rep. 5:188-189.

*Lami, R., Jones, L.C., Cottrell, M.T., Lafferty, B.J., Ginder-Vogel, M., Sparks, D.L., and D.L. Kirchman. 2013. Arsenite modifies structure of soil microbial communities and arsenite oxidization potential. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 84:270-279.

Kirchman, D.L. 2012. Processes in Microbial Ecology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cottrell, M.T., and D.L. Kirchman. 2012. Virus genes in Arctic marine bacteria identified by metagenomic analysis. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 66:107-116.

Nikrad, M.P., Cottrell, M.T., and D.L. Kirchman. 2012. Abundance and single-cell activity of heterotrophic bacterial groups in the western Arctic Ocean in summer and winter. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 78:2402-2409.

Campbell, B.J., Yu, L., Heidelberg, J.F., and D.L. Kirchman. 2011. Activity of abundant and rare bacteria in a coastal ocean. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 108:12776-12781.

Twing, K.I., D.L. Kirchman, and B.J. Campbell. 2011. Temporal study of Heliobacter pylori presence in coastal freshwater, estuary and marine waters. Water Res. 45:1897-1905.

Christman, G.D, M.T. Cottrell, B.N. Popp, E. Gier, and D.L. Kirchman. 2011. Abundance, diversity, and activity of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in the coastal Arctic Ocean in summer and winter.  Appl. Environ. Microb. 77:2026-2034.

Michelou, V., M.W. Lomas, and D.L. Kirchman. 2011. Phosphate and adenosine-5'-triphosphate uptake by cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria in the Sargasso Sea. Limnol. Oceanogr. 56:323-332.

Straza, T.R.A., and D.L. Kirchman. 2011. Single-cell response of bacterial groups to light and other environmental factors in the Delaware Bay, USA. Aquat. Microb. Ecol.62:267-277. doi: 10.3354/ame01469.

Jiao, N., G.J. Herndl, D.A. Hansell, R. Benner, G. Kattner, S.W. Wilhelm, D.L. Kirchman, M.G. Weinbauer, T. Luo, F. Chen, and F. Azam. 2010. Microbial production of recalcitrant dissolved organic matter: Long-term carbon storage in the global ocean. Nat. Rev. Micro. 8:593-599. doi:10.1038/nrmicro2386.

Straza, T.R.A., H.W. Ducklow, A.E. Murray, and D.L. Kirchman. 2010. Abundance and single-cell activity of bacterial groups in Antarctic coastal waters. Limnol. Oceanogr. 55:2526-2536.

Cottrell, M.T., J. Ras, and D.L. Kirchman. 2010. Bacteriochlorophyll and community structure of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria in a particle-rich estuary. ISME J. 4:945-954.

Kirchman, D.L., Cottrell, M.T., and C. Lovejoy. 2010. The structure of bacterial communities in the western Arctic Ocean as revealed by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Environ. Microbiol. 12:1132-1143.  doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02154.x.

Cottrell, M.T. and D.L. Kirchman.  2009.  Photoheterotrophic microbes in the Arctic Ocean in summer and winter. 

Former Students

Gerardo Chin-Leo, M.S. 1985, Ph.D. 1989; Faculty Member, Evergreen State College, Environmental Studies, Olympia, Washington.

Edward Urban, Ph.D., 1989; Executive Director, Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, Newark, Delaware.

Richard Keil, Ph.D., 1991; Associate Professor, School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

Matthew Hoch, Ph.D., 1992; Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas.

Michael Montgomery, Ph.D., 1992; Research Microbiologist, Environmental Quality Sciences, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.

James Rich, M.S., 1994; Executive Director of Technology, Beam, Boston, Massachusetts.

Niels Borch, Ph.D., 1998; Freshwater Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jessica Moore, M.S., 1999; Intervet, Inc., Millsboro, Delaware.

Kimberly Hoffman McDonough, M.S., 2000; GCP Auditor, Clinical Quality and Compliance, Lantheus Medical Imaging, North Billerica, Massachusetts.

Sínead Ní Chadhain, Ph.D., 2001; Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama.

Dawn Castle, Ph.D., 2003; Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Kathryn Preen, M.S., 2003; Natural Resources Biologist, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Annapolis, Maryland.

Paul Jones, M.S., 2005; Ph.D. candidate, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida.

Rex Malmstrom, Ph.D., 2006; Research Scientist, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Walnut Creek, California.

Hila Elifantz, Ph.D., 2006; Associate Researcher, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.

Lisa Waidner, Ph.D., 2007; Principal Research Associate, Elcitron, Inc., Newark, Delaware.

Vanessa Michelou, Ph.D., 2009; Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Glenn Christman, M.S., 2009.

Tiffany Straza, Ph.D., 2010.

Professional Activities

Selected Service Activities

  • Chair of Division N, American Society of Microbiology (1990)
  • Editorial Board, Microbial Ecology (1991-1993)
  • Editor-in-chief, Limnology and Oceanography (1993-1998)
  • Editorial Board, Aquatic Microbial Ecology (1995-2006)
  • Editorial Board, FEMS Microbiological Ecology (1997-present)
  • Editorial Board, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2002-2008)
  • ASM Committee on Global Change (1999)
  • NSF Review Panels (1987-2007, 2011)
  • DOE Review Panels (2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011)
  • NSF-NIH Review Panel (2003)
  • Marine Biosciences Program Director, College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware (1994-1998)
  • Associate Dean, College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware (2001-2006)
  • Editorial Board, ISME Journal (2011- present)
  • Editorial Board, PLoS One (2012-)

Further Information

Interested in Graduate School?

Students interested in graduate school under Dave Kirchman's guidance are encouraged to contact him directly by email (kirchman@udel.edu). General information about application procedures can be found here. Students are fully supported usually by research grants and, for those with exceptional records, by college and university-wide fellowships. In either case, students have great freedom in formulating research topics and course curricula. Positions are currently available in Kirchman's lab on projects supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.



  • College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment  •   111 Robinson Hall  •   Newark, DE 19716  •   USA
    Phone: 302-831-2841  •   E-mail: ceoe-info@udel.edu