Coprolites to Corpses: Ancestral and Forensic Microbiomes Jessica L. Metcalf, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Animal Sciences Colorado State University McFall-Ngai et al. 2013, PNAS The human body is an ecosystem Oral Skin Gut Urogenital tract The human body is an ecosystem EVOLUTION FUNCTION ECOLOGY Life and Death Microbes 1. Diversity of ancestral human gut microbiomes 2. Succession of microbes after death Disturbance of urban gut microbiomes The ancestral human gut microbiome people living a and people living in pre- traditional lifestyle antibiotic times McDonald et al. in revision McDonald et al. in revision