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Assistant Professor of Geobiology, Earth & Environmental Science

Academic Director, National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI)

 

I am a geomicrobiologist and biogeochemist specializing in microbial sulfur cycling and microbe-mineral interactions in cave systems. In addition to my work on caves and karst, I have diverse research interests in the field of geomicrobiology, including microbial processes in mine waste, marine sediments, and wetland ecosystems.

Prior to my position at NMT and NCKRI, I served as the program coordinator for the bioremediation-focused MnDRIVE Environment initiative at the University of Minnesota, and was a research associate in the University of Minnesota BioTechnology Institute. I am also graduate faculty in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

 

Links:

Dan's Google Scholar page

Dan's research website

Cave and Karst Studies at NMT

The National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI)

Science communication class activity (sciworthy.com)

 

Courses: 

Geomicrobiology (Fall 2019 syllabus)

Earth History (Spring 2020 syllabus)

Special Topics in Cave & Karst Processes (Spring 2020 syllabus)

 

Select recent publications:

Jones DS, Walker GM, Johnson NJ, Mitchell CPJ, Coleman Wasik JK, Bailey JV (2019). Molecular evidence for novel mercury methylating microorganisms in sulfate-impacted lakes. ISME J 13: 1659-1675 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-019-0376-1)

Jones DS, Lapakko KA, Wenz ZJ, Olson MC, Roepke EW, Sadowsky MJ, Novak PJ, Bailey JV (2017). Novel microbial assemblages dominate weathered sulfide-bearing rock from copper-nickel deposits in the Duluth Complex, Minnesota, USA. Appl Environ Microbiol 83:e00909-17 (https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00909-17)

Galdenzi S and Jones DS, (2017). The Frasassi Caves: A “classical” active hypogenic cave. In Klimchouk A, Palmer A, Waele JD, Auler A, Audra P (ed), Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World. Springer. (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53348-3_8)

Jones DS, Schaperdoth I, Macalady JL (2016). Biogeography of sulfur-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus populations in extremely acidic cave biofilms. ISME J 10: 2879 (https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2016.74)

Jones DS, Flood BE, Bailey JV (2016). Metatranscriptomic insights into polyphosphate metabolism in marine sediments, ISME J 10: 1015 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.169)

Jones DS and Macalady, JL (2016). The snotty and the stringy: energy for subsurface life in caves. in Advances in Environmental Microbiology: Their World: a Diversity of Microbial Environments, ed. by C.J. Hurst, Springer DE, Heidelberg, Germany, p. 203-224 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28071-4_5)

Jones DS, Polerecky L, Dempsey BA, Galdenzi S, Macalady JL (2015). Fate of sulfide in the Frasassi cave system and implications for sulfuric acid speleogenesis, Chem Geol 410: 21 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.06.002)

Jones DS, Kohl K, Grettenberger C, Larson LL, Burgos WD, Macalady JL (2015). Geochemical niches of iron-oxidizing acidophiles in a coal mine discharge, Appl Environ Microbiol 81: 1242 (https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02919-14)

Jones DS, Flood BE, Bailey JV (2015). Metatranscriptomic analysis of diminutive Thiomargarita-like bacteria (Candidatus Thiopilula spp.) from abyssal cold seeps of the Barbados Accretionary Prism, Appl Environ Microbiol 81: 3142 (https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00039-15)

Zerkle AL, Jones DS, Farquhar J, Macalady JL (2015). Sulfur isotope values in the sulfidic Frasassi cave system, central Italy: A case study of a chemolithotrophic S-based ecosystem, Geochim Cosmochim Acta 173: 373 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2015.10.028)