Colores, Gregory

• Colores, G.M., D.M. Ward and W.P. Inskeep. 2007. Competitive fitness of isolates enriched on phenanthrene sorbed to model phases. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73:4074-4077.
  
• Vibber, L.L., M.J. Pressler and G.M. Colores. 2007. Isolation and characterization of atrazine-degrading microorganisms from an agricultural soil. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 75:921-928. 
• Colores, G.M. and S.K. Schmidt. 2005. Recovery of microbially-mediated processes in remediated soil. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 24:1912-1917.
• Colores, G.M., R.E. Macur, D.M. Ward and W.P. Inskeep. 2000. Molecular analysis of microbial population shifts in soil as a function of surfactant application. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66:2959-2964.
• Colores, G.M. and S.K. Schmidt. 1999. Colonization of contaminated soil by an introduced bacterium: effects of initial pentachlorophenol levels on the survival of Sphingomonas chlorophenolica strain RA2. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 23:326- 331.
• Colores, G.M., S.K. Schmidt and M.C. Fisk. 1996. Estimating the biomass of microbial functional groups using rates of growth-related soil respiration. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 28:1569-1577.
• Hess, T.F., S.K. Schmidt and G.M. Colores. 1996. Maintenance energy model for microbial degradation of toxic chemicals in soil. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 28:907-915.
• Colores, G.M., P.M. Radehaus and S.K. Schmidt. 1995. Use of a pentachlorophenol degrading bacterium to bioremediate highly contaminated soil. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 54:271-275.
• Schmidt, S.K., G.M. Colores, T.F. Hess and P.M. Radehaus. 1995. A simple method for quantifying activity and survival of microorganisms involved in bioremediation processes. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 54:259-270.

• B.S., Northern Arizona University, 1991
• Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1998
• Postdoctoral Research, Montana State University, 1998-2002

• Microbiology

Current Research Projects

I am primarily interested in the microbial ecology of natural and human impacted environments. My research involves the use of a combination of microbiological approaches (molecular biology, physiology, ecology) and an appreciation of soil chemistry. Most of my work to date involves microorganisms that have the ability to degrade toxic compounds.

Current projects:

• Soil organic matter-driven selection of atrazine-degrading microbial populations
• Influence of chemical mixtures on microbial populations
• Hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms in Yellowstone National Park
• Competitive fitness among isolates enriched with variations in phenanthrene bioavailability
• Molecular detection of cyanobacteria from a grassland alvar