Welcome to the Easson Lab website

Here at the Easson lab, we tackle interesting questions in the areas of molecular ecology, genetics, bioinformatics and ecology.

Marine sponges rely on a variety of nutrient sources including particulate and dissolved organic matter, solar irradiance, and inorganic nutrients.

See our review here: Sponge–Microbe Interactions on Coral Reefs: Multiple Evolutionary Solutions to a Complex Environment https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.705053

Sampling the sponge diet with VacuSIP. We used small tubes under low vacuum pressure to assess the diets of 13 common Caribbean sponges.

Assessing biodiversity with Environmental DNA

Honors Student Jaci samples water from the Stones River to sample eDNA. Samples were then sequenced to catalog eukaryotic diversity within this watershed

Freshwater sponges of Tennessee

These amazing and understudied filter feeders are found throughout many freshwater systems worldwide. Tennessee appears to be a diversity hotspot containing 13 of the 40 species found in North America