Jessica Bullington

Position

Graduate Student

Biography

As ocean scientists, we get to peer into unfamiliar worlds using incredible technology such as electron microscopy and deep-sea submersibles. This sense of discovery combined with a sense of responsibility to care for the planet has motivated most of my research endeavors and hobbies.

I started my journey as an undergraduate researcher with Dr. Iglesias-Rodriguez and quickly grew fascinated with micro-organisms and biogeochemistry. My work has taken me to the beautiful coral reefs of Moʻorea, French Polynesia with the Nelson lab to the depths of the Monterey Bay submarine canyon with the Worden lab at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

Research Interests

I am a microbial ecologist and oceanographer. My interests range from the upper atmosphere to the deep sea. My research is focused on identifying ecological and environmental controls of microbial community composition and population dynamics. Primarily, I study anthropogenic impacts on nearshore planktonic communities. 

In the Nelson lab, I lead an investigation of microbial life in the Ala Wai Canal, a channelized estuary in Honolulu. Primarily, we are working to construct a bio-physical model to predict the dynamics of the pathogenic bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, in the canal and outflow.

Education

2013-2017 B.A. Biology University of California, Santa Barbara College of Creative Studies

 Publications

Bullington, J. A., Sudek, S., & Worden, A. (2019). Digging into DNA: Evaluating propidium monoazide as a tool to remove nonviable microbial DNA from deep-sea sediment cores. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute online database. 

Ladd, T. M., Bullington, J. A., Matson, P. G., Kudela, R. M., & Iglesias-Rodríguez, M. D. (2018). Exposure to oil from the 2015 Refugio spill alters the physiology of a common harmful algal bloom species, Pseudo-nitzschia australis, and the ubiquitous coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 603, 61-78.

Bullington, J. A., Mark, D., Griffrey, V., Bragg, A., Foster, W., & Tibbetts, I. (2016). Rubble with a cause: Questioning the validity of the Island Biogeography Theory for microhabitats on a coral reef. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad.

Bullington, J. A. (2014). Communication in Biology. Starting Lines. Ed. Ilene Miele and Christopher Dean. Plymouth: Hayden-McNeil Publishing. 13: 154-157.