Alumni Spotlight: Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun

Alumni Spotlight: Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun (Postdoc 2020-2025)

Faculty member in Microbiomics, University of Bath (UK). Former NSF Yellowstone Project lead postdoc + Brown Postdoctoral Excellence Award recipient.

Dr. Bethan Littleford‑Colquhoun was a postdoctoral researcher in the Kartzinel Lab (2020–2025) and a key driver of our NSF-funded Yellowstone wildlife research program in collaboration with the National Park Service. Her work uses dietary DNA metabarcoding and microbiome ecology to understand how wild herbivores respond to seasonal change and migration. She is now a faculty member in Microbiomics at the University of Bath.

• Faculty website: University of Bath
• In the news: Researchers propose new model for herbivore diets in Yellowstone National Park
• Post from the lab: Beth wins 2023 Postdoctoral Excellence Award

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Major Research Accomplishments

Beth led and otherwise initiated extensive work on the foraging ecology of Yellowstone's wildlife -- including iconic species such as bison, elk, and pronghorn antelope. She used dietary DNA metabarcoding to figure out how strongly seasonal their diets were, and whether populations foraged in ways that were more uniform or individualistically as they undertook their 'epic' annual migrations.

To more generally address a persistent challenge in our efforts to draw robust inferences about diet-microbiome linkages, Beth has built a legacy. Some of her key contributions are:

• Pioneering a CRISPR-nanopore sequencing strategy with potential to overcome drawbacks inherent to all PCR-based methods.
• Articulating the risks and rewards associated with commonly used bioinformatic strategies in the field.
• Became a leading contributor to our program's bioinformatic pipeline for dietary DNA metabarcoding.

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Contributions As A Teacher-Scholar

Even during the pandemic when she was locked down in the UK, I was most fortunate to have Beth co-instruct my upper-level genomics course. The course we co-led provided authentic research experiences, it was supported by HHMI, and it was endorsed by the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, Together with students, we generated novel data, conducted computer-based simulations, and drafted several successful manuscripts for publication. Beth also regularly mentored undergraduates through field- and lab-based independent research experiences.

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Where To From Here?

Beth was awarded a Prize Fellowship in the field of Microbiomics at the University of Bath. In 2025, she opened her own lab at the interface of ecology, genomics, and host–microbiome interactions. Together with her team, she seeks to understand how environmental change shapes the foraging-, nutritional-, and microbial-ecology of wild animals. We are fortunate to continuing collaborating with Beth on a number of projects, including our work at Yellowstone as well as studies on diet-microbiome linkages in lizards.

In Photos

Publication Highlights

• Body size modulates the extent of seasonal diet switching by large mammalian herbivores in Yellowstone National Park [PDF]
• A CRISPR-based strategy for targeted sequencing in biodiversity science [PDF]
• The precautionary principle and dietary DNA metabarcoding: commonly used abundance thresholds change ecological interpretation  [PDF]