Kaitlin A. Schaal

evolutionary adventurer

Publications


Lead author papers
  •  Schaal K. A., YJ. Wang, J. Nauta, M. De Domenico, S. Pilosof, J.P.J. Hall. (2025) Species interactions determine plasmid persistence in a 3-member bacterial community. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.31.657151.  
  •  Schaal K. A., M. La Fortezza, G. J. Velicer. (2025) Predation, evo-devo, and historical contingency: A nematode predator drives evolution of aggregative multicellularity. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.04.652091.  
  •  Schaal K. A.*, P. Manhes*, G. J. Velicer. (2025) Ecological histories govern social exploitation by microorganisms. The ISME Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wrae255.  *These authors contributed equally to this work.  
  •  Schaal K. A., Y. T. N. Yu, M. Vasse, G. J. Velicer. (2022) Allopatric divergence of cooperators confers cheating resistance and limits effects of a defector mutation. BMC Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02094-7.  
  •  Manhes P.*, K. A. Schaal*, G. J. Velicer. (2022) Antagonistic, synergistic, and social pleiotropy in microbial cheaters. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.11.503674.  *These authors contributed equally to this work.  
Last author paper
  • Mayrhofer N., G. J. Velicer, K. A. Schaal*, M. Vasse.* (2021) Behavioral interactions between bacterivorous nematodes and predatory bacteria in a synthetic community. Microorganisms. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9071362.  *These authors contributed equally to this work.  Special Issue Myxobacteria: Physiology and Regulation, edited by Dr. David Whitworth  
Contributing author papers
  •  Nauta J., K. A. Schaal, YJ. Wang, J.P.J. Hall, S. Pilosof, M. De Domenico. (2025) Heterogeneity drives plasmid maintenance in large microbial communities. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2509.01695.  
  •  Wang YJ., K. A. Schaal, J. Nauta, A. Liaghat, M. De Domenico, J.P.J. Hall, S. Pilosof. (2025) The interplay between ecological networks drives host-plasmid community dynamics. EcoEvoRxiv. https://doi.org/10.32942/X21P8V.  
Reviews
Book chapter
Website
  •  Freund, L., M. La Fortezza, N. Mayrhofer, K. A. Schaal, and G. J. Velicer. (2024) MyxoEE: Myxobacteria Evolution Experiments. https://www.myxoee.org/