Serguei Drovetski is a Biologist at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, in Beltsville, MD since 2019, where he is the member of the Molecular Toxicology Laboratory. Serguei's research is focused on avian microbiome and the effects of environmental stressors on wildlife and its microbiome at the molecular and biochemical levels.
Serguei's current research focuses on the identification and application of novel “omics” approaches for understanding toxicological responses in wildlife and especially in its microbiome. Serguei enjoys research that ties together these diverse fields, and combines analytical, laboratory, and fieldwork.
Professional Experience
Conducted research in many diverse fields of avian biology: evolutionary and behavioral ecology, functional and comparative morphology, molecular phylogenetics, phylo- and biogeography, host-symbiont co-evolution, and, recently, microbiome.
Education and Certifications
PhD in Zoology from University of Washington, Seattle, WA (2001)
BS [Forestry Engineer] Moscow State University of the Forest, Mytischi, Russia (1988).
Science and Products
Review of harmful algal blooms effects on birds with implications for avian wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay region
An evaluation of the reliability of plumage characters for sexing adult Ruddy Turnstones Arenaria interpres morinella during northward passage in eastern North America
Exposure to crop production alters cecal prokaryotic microbiota, inflates virulome and resistome in wild prairie grouse
Effects of low pH on the coral reef cryptic invertebrate communities near CO2 vents in Papua New Guinea
Global drivers of avian haemosporidian infections vary across zoogeographical regions
Low MSP-1 haplotype diversity in the West Palearctic population of the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum
Robust geographical determinants of infection prevalence and a contrasting latitudinal diversity gradient for haemosporidian parasites in Western Palearctic birds
Non-USGS Publications**
Featured in Torch on May 17, 2019: Stop grousing about your toxic relationship with food
Featured in the Smithsonian Insider May 31, 2018: Study of bacteria inside guts of wild Canada geese show greater danger than earlier studies exposed
Featured in the perspective by Marcos Robalinho Lima and Staffan Bensch in the same issue of Molecular Ecology DOI: 10.1111/mec.12809
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Wild Prairie Grouse Diet and Microbiomes Vary Between Cropland and Grassland Habitats
Review of Wildlife Health Outcomes and Potentially Toxic Algal Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay
Dysbiosis, immunomodulation, and health effects of agricultural pesticides in wild prairie grouse
Characterizing microbiota, virulome, and resistome of wild prairie grouse in crop producing and uncultivated areas of Nebraska
Science and Products
- Publications
Review of harmful algal blooms effects on birds with implications for avian wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay region
The Chesapeake Bay, along the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, is the largest estuary in the United States and provides critical habitat for wildlife. In contrast to point and non-point source release of pesticides, metals, and industrial, personal care and household use chemicals on biota in this watershed, there has only been scant attention to potential exposure and effects of algal toxinsAuthorsBarnett A. Rattner, Catherine E. Wazniak, Julia S. Lankton, Peter C. McGowan, Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, Todd A. EgertonAn evaluation of the reliability of plumage characters for sexing adult Ruddy Turnstones Arenaria interpres morinella during northward passage in eastern North America
We used two datasets to investigate the reliability of plumage for sexing adult Ruddy Turnstones Arenaria interpres of the morinella subspecies during May and early June in Delaware Bay, on the Mid-Atlantic Coast of the United States (39.1202°N, 75.2479°W). We first examined 23 years of data on the capture and recapture of 1,818 individual Ruddy Turnstones to assess the consistency of observers wiAuthorsPeter J. Fullagar, R. Terry Chesser, Humphrey P. Sitters, Christopher C. Davey, Lawrence J. Niles, Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, M. Nandadevi Cortes-RodriguezExposure to crop production alters cecal prokaryotic microbiota, inflates virulome and resistome in wild prairie grouse
Chemically intensive crop production depletes wildlife food resources, hinders animal development, health, survival, and reproduction, and it suppresses wildlife immune systems, facilitating emergence of infectious diseases with excessive mortality rates. Gut microbiota is crucial for wildlife's response to environmental stressors. Its composition and functionality are sensitive to diet changes anAuthorsSerguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, Brian K. Schmidt, Jonas Ethan Lai, Michael S. Gross, Michelle Hladik, Kenan Oguz Matterson, Natalie K. Karouna-RenierEffects of low pH on the coral reef cryptic invertebrate communities near CO2 vents in Papua New Guinea
Small cryptic invertebrates (the cryptofauna) are extremely abundant, ecologically important, and species rich on coral reefs. Ongoing ocean acidification is likely to have both direct effects on the biology of these organisms, as well as indirect effects through cascading impacts on their habitats and trophic relationships. Naturally acidified habitats have been important model systems for studyiAuthorsLaetitia Plaisance, Kenan O. Matterson, Katharina Fabricius, Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, Christoph F. J. Meyer, Nancy KnowltonGlobal drivers of avian haemosporidian infections vary across zoogeographical regions
Aim: Macroecological analyses provide valuable insights into factors that influence how parasites are distributed across space and among hosts. Amid large uncertainties that arise when generalizing from local and regional findings, hierarchical approaches applied to global datasets are required to determine whether drivers of parasite infection patterns vary across scales. We assessed global patteAuthorsAlan Fecchio, Nicholas J. Clark, Jeffrey A Bell, Heather Skeen, Holly L Lutz, Gabriel M De La Torre, Jefferson A Vaughan, Vasyl V. Tkach, Fabio Schunck, Francisco C Ferreira, Érika M Braga, Camile Lugarini, Wanyoike Wamiti, Janice H Dispoto, Spencer C Galen, Karin Kirchgatter, M. Cecilia Sagario, Victor R Cueto, Daniel González-Acuña, Mizue Inumaru, Yukita Sato, Yvonne R. Schumm, Petra Quillfeldt, Irene Pellegrino, Guha Dharmarajan, Pooja Gupta, V. V. Robin, Arif Ciloglu, Alparslan Yildirim, Xi Huang, Leonardo Chapa-Vargas, Paulina Álvarez-Mendizábal, Diego Santiago-Alarcon, Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, Olof Hellgren, Gary Voelker, Robert E Ricklefs, Shannon Hackett, Michael D Collins, Jason D Weckstein, Konstans WellsLow MSP-1 haplotype diversity in the West Palearctic population of the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum
BackgroundAlthough avian Plasmodium species are widespread and common across the globe, limited data exist on how genetically variable their populations are. Here, the hypothesis that the avian blood parasite Plasmodium relictum exhibits very low genetic diversity in its Western Palearctic transmission area (from Morocco to Sweden in the north and Transcaucasia in the east) was tested.MethodsThe gAuthorsOlof Hellgren, Victor Kelbskopf, Vincenzo A Ellis, Arif Ciloglu, Mélanie Duc, Xi Huang, Ricardo J. Lopes, Vanessa A Mata, Sargis A. Aghayan, Abdullah Inci, Serguei Vyacheslavovich DrovetskiRobust geographical determinants of infection prevalence and a contrasting latitudinal diversity gradient for haemosporidian parasites in Western Palearctic birds
Identifying robust environmental predictors of infection probability is central to forecasting and mitigating the ongoing impacts of climate change on vector‐borne disease threats. We applied phylogenetic hierarchical models to a data set of 2,171 Western Palearctic individual birds from 47 species to determine how climate and landscape variation influence infection probability for three genera ofAuthorsNicholas J. Clark, Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, Gary VoelkerNon-USGS Publications**
Drovetski SV, O'Mahoney MJV, Matterson KO, Schmidt BK, Graves GR 2019 Distinct microbiotas of anatomical gut regions display idiosyncratic seasonal variation in an avian folivore. Animal Microbiome 1(1): 2. DOI: 10.1186/s42523-019-0002-6.
Featured in Torch on May 17, 2019: Stop grousing about your toxic relationship with foodDrovetski SV, O'Mahoney MJV, Ransome EJ, Matterson KO, Lim HC, Chesser RT, Graves GR 2018 Spatial organization of the gastrointestinal microbiota in urban canada geese. Scientific Reports 8: 3713. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-21892-y.
Featured in the Smithsonian Insider May 31, 2018: Study of bacteria inside guts of wild Canada geese show greater danger than earlier studies exposedMata VA, da Silva LP, Lopes RJ, Drovetski SV 2015 Strait of Gibraltar poses an effective barrier to host-specialized but not to host-generalized lineages of avian Haemosporidia. International Journal for Parasitology 45(11): 711-719. DOI:10.1016/j.ijpara.2015.04.006Drovetski SV, Aghayan SA, Mata VA, Lopes RJ, Mode NA, Harvey JA, Voelker G 2014 Does the niche-breadth or trade-off hypothesis explain the abundance-occupancy relationship in avian haemosporidia? Molecular Ecology 23(13):3322-3329. DOI: 10.1111/mec.12744
Featured in the perspective by Marcos Robalinho Lima and Staffan Bensch in the same issue of Molecular Ecology DOI: 10.1111/mec.12809**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
- Science
Wild Prairie Grouse Diet and Microbiomes Vary Between Cropland and Grassland Habitats
Wild prairie grouse residing in croplands had altered diets and gut microbiome imbalances characterized by a greater abundance of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes in comparison to those residing in grasslands. Similar gut microbiome imbalances are rarely associated with lethal outcomes, but rather linked to sublethal health effects including growth, development, behavior, immune...Review of Wildlife Health Outcomes and Potentially Toxic Algal Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay
Scientists provide resources that review algal toxin data, explore links between avian mortality and toxin exposure, and identify future research needs to predict algal toxin health hazards and risks for birds and other wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay.Dysbiosis, immunomodulation, and health effects of agricultural pesticides in wild prairie grouse
Agrochemical pollution poses a severe threat to biodiversity. Agrochemicals can detrimentally affect wildlife growth, development, survival, reproduction, and immune responses, which facilitates emergence and spread of infectious diseases that may cause unusually high mortality. Animal microbiota plays a fundamental role in host’s food detoxification and defense against pathogens, regulates... - Data
Characterizing microbiota, virulome, and resistome of wild prairie grouse in crop producing and uncultivated areas of Nebraska
Chart listing the geographic locations, NCBI numbers, voucher numbers, and microbiome characteristics of specimens collected for publication - Multimedia