Profile

NSF-RaMP Project

WSU Showcase Faculty Diversity Award

Research Interests

My research emphasis is on linking function with phylogeny of the soil microbiome, specifically with regard to the interactions and impacts on soil health, plant vigor, metal bioavailability, and human health.  The soil microbiome is key in biotransformations that allow soils to support plant vitality and human health in innumerable ways, and this has allowed me to expand my science into projects to support traditionally underrepresented groups, smallholder farmers, agroforestry, and Indigenous peoples across the PNW. Understanding the consortia of organisms and the metabolic mechanisms of biogeochemistry drives the work in my lab with a wide array of basic and applied science, using traditional cultivation-based and molecular techniques.

Education

Ph.D., Cornell University, Soil Science, Sub-disciplines: Microbiology, Toxicology, 2010
M.S., Colorado State University, M.S., Soil Science, Emphasis: Microbiology, 2004
B.S., Colorado State University, Restoration Ecology/Rangeland Ecosystem Science, 2002

News Articles

• Mentor program bridges Indigenous knowledge, Western science to build tribal capacity, protect ecosystems
• WSU Research Helps Turn Pennycress from a Weed to Bioenergy Seed Crop
• Microbes, Siderophores, and Iron Deficiency with Dr. Tarah Sullivan Podcast
• Soil Microbiology & Agricultural Sustainability Podcast
• Ask Dr. Universe: Why Do Worms Come Out When It Rains?
• The Microbe Whisperers
• Soil Acidity Impacts Beneficial Soil Microorganisms
• Symposium Addresses the Science of the Rhizosphere
• Can Good Fungi Restore Bad Soil?

Courses Taught

SOIL_SCI 541: Soil-Plant-Microbe Interactions – taught in even years, spring semesters. Relationships of soil organisms with plant nutrition, plant health, and environmental cleanup; rhizosphere chemistry and microbial ecology.

SOIL_SCI 531L: Soil Microbiology – taught in odd years, spring semesters. Lab-based course reviewing basic microbiology and how these organisms create and maintain soil, their role in nutrient cycling, ecosystem function, agriculture, and bioremediation.

Recent Publications

Goldsmith, E.W., Taylor, K.R., Sullivan, T.S., Lofgren, E., Garrison, K., Schroeder, G., Deb, S., Wild, M., and D. Shah. (2025). Treponeme-associated hoof disease in free-ranging elk is a polybacterial disease with variation in abundance of key amplicon sequences across the geographic range. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Oct 2025.

Spishakoff, A., Sanguinet, K., and T. Sullivan. (2025). Rhizosphere microbiome diversity potentially supports robust nature of Field Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) in dryland cropping systems of Eastern Washington. Global Change Biology: Bioenergy, 17:6, e70036.

 Antonangelo, J., Pallikonda, M. K., Sullivan, T. S. 2024. Prospects of biochar for boosting crop productivity and soil sustainability, Part 2: Chapter 12, In, Biochar Ecotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment. Elsevier. ISBN: 9780443298561

Naasko, K., Pan, W., Reganold, J. Huggins, D., Madsen, I., Sullivan, T.S., Wills, S. and Haiying Tao, 2023. Soil Profile Health in the Palouse Soil Series: Carbon, nitrogen, nutrients and aggregates. Agrosystems, Geosciences, & Environment, 6(4): e20421.

Sullivan, T.S. (Guest Ed.), 2023. Microbial Remediation of Soils: Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation Towards Improved Soil and Human Health. Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607).

Lewis, R.W., Okubara, P.A, Sullivan, T.S., Madden, B.J., Johnson, K.L., Charlesworth, M.C., and E.P. Fuerst, 2022. Proteome-wide response of dormant caryopses of the weed, Avena fatua L., after colonization by a seed-decay isolate of Fusarium avenaceum. Phytopathology, 112:1103-1117.

Dilla-Ermita, J.D., Lewis, R.W., Sullivan, T.S., and S. H. Hulbert, 2021. Soil-borne disease suppression through wheat genotype-specific rhizobiome recruitment. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12.

Opdahl, L. J., Lewis, R.W., Kalcsits, L.A., Sullivan, T.S., and K.A. Sanguinet, 2021. Plant uptake of lactate-bound metals: a sustainable alternative to metal chlorides.  Biomolecules, 11:8.

Lewis, R.W., Fuerst, P., Okubara, P., and T.S. Sullivan* 2020. Chronic sublethal Aluminum exposure and Avena fatua caryposis colonization influence gene expression of Fusarium avenaceum Fa 1. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11:51. 

Hansen, J.C., W.F. Schillinger, T.S. Sullivan, and T.C. Paulitz. 2020. Camelina: Decline in soil microbial abundance when camelina introduced into a monoculture wheat system. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11:2916.

Sullivan, T.S.*, and G.M. Gadd. 2019. Metal bioavailability and the soil microbiome. Advances in Agronomy, Volume 155, Chapter 3.

Schlatter, D.C., J.C. Hansen, W.F. Schillinger, T.S. Sullivan, and T.C. Paulitz*. 2019. Common and unique microbial communities in the rhizosphere of wheat and canola in a semiarid Mediterranean environment. Applied Soil Ecology, 144: 170-181.

Stacey, N., R. Lewis, J. Davenport, and T.S. Sullivan*. 2019. Composted biosolids for golf course turfgrass management: Impacts on soil microbiome and nutrient cycling.  Applied Soil Ecology, 144: 31-41.

Hansen, J.C.*, W.F. Schillinger, T.S. Sullivan, and T.C. Paulitz, 2019. Soil microbial community biomass and fungi reduced with canola introduced into long-term monoculture wheat rotations. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10: 1-12 (DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01488).

Lewis, R., Islam, A., Dilla-Ermita, J.C., Hulbert, S.H., and T. S. Sullivan* 2019. High-throughput siderophore screening from environmental samples: plant tissues, bulk soils, and rhizosphere soils. Journal of Visualized Experiments, Issue 144, e59137 (DOI: 10.3791/59137)

Lewis, R., L. Opdahl, A. Islam, J. Davenport, and T.S. Sullivan*. 2019. Comparative genomics, siderophore production, and iron scavenging potential of root zone soil bacteria isolated from ‘Concord’ grape vineyards. Microbial Ecology (DOI: 10.1007/s00248-019-01324-8).

Lewis, R., M.K. LeTourneau, J. Davenport, and T.S. Sullivan*. 2018. ‘Concord’ grapevine nutritional status and chlorosis rank associated with fungal and bacterial root zone microbiomes. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry (doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2018.06.011).

Barth, V.P., C.R. Reardon, T. Coffey, A.M. Klein, C.L. McFarland, D.R. Huggins, and T.S. Sullivan*. 2018. Stratification of soil chemical and microbial properties under no-till management after lime amendment. Applied Soil Ecology (doi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2018.06.001).

Hansen, J.C., W.F. Schillinger, T.S. Sullivan, and T.C. Paulitz, 2018. Rhizosphere microbial communities of canola and wheat at six paired field sites in eastern Washington. Applied Soil Ecology (doi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2018.06.012).

Lewis, R.W., V.P. Barth, T. Coffey, C.R. McFarland, C.R., D. Huggins, and T.S. Sullivan*. 2018. Altered bacterial communities in long-term no-till soils associated with stratification of soluble Aluminum and soil pH. Soils, Special Issue: Soil Processes Controlling Contaminant Dynamics, 2(1), 7; doi: 10.3390/soils2010007.

Allen, B., M. Drake, N. Harris, and T.S. Sullivan*. 2017. Using KBase to assemble and annotate prokaryotic genomes. Current Protocols in Microbiology, 46, 1E.13.1–1E.13.18. doi: 10.1002/cpmc.37.

Paul, N.C., T.S. Sullivan, T.S., and D.H. Shah. 2017. Differences in antimicrobial activity of chlorine against twelve most prevalent poultry-associated Salmonella serotypes. Food Microbiology, 64: 202-209.

Tautges, N.E., T.S. Sullivan, C.L. Reardon, and I.C. Burke. 2016. Soil microbial diversity and activity linked to crop yield and quality in dryland organic wheat production system. Applied Soil Ecology 108:258-268.