World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Environmental Sciences

D-Index
55
Citations
37388
World Ranking
3752
National Ranking
1428

Overview

John R. Spear is affiliated with the Colorado School of Mines in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on environmental science, with significant contributions across subfields such as ecology, environmental chemistry, molecular biology, paleontology, and global and planetary change.

The scientist's work encompasses various key topics including microbial community ecology and physiology, methane hydrates and related phenomena, genomics and phylogenetic studies, paleontology and stratigraphy of fossils, geology and paleoclimatology research, hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis, and atmospheric and environmental gas dynamics.

John R. Spear has published extensively in several scientific venues. The most frequent publication outlets include:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Frontiers in Microbiology
  • Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America
  • The ISME Journal
  • Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Recent noteworthy papers include:

  • "Ancestral Absence of Electron Transport Chains in Patescibacteria and DPANN," 2020, Frontiers in Microbiology
  • "Insights into the dynamics between viruses and their hosts in a hot spring microbial mat," 2020, The ISME Journal
  • "Accessing the Subsurface Biosphere Within Rocks Undergoing Active Low-Temperature Serpentinization in the Samail Ophiolite (Oman Drilling Project)," 2021, Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences
  • "Diversification of methanogens into hyperalkaline serpentinizing environments through adaptations to minimize oxidant limitation," 2020, The ISME Journal
  • "Molecular Evidence for an Active Microbial Methane Cycle in Subsurface Serpentinite-Hosted Groundwaters in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman," 2020, Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Frequent coauthors in their collaborative research include Alexis S. Templeton, Frank A. Corsetti, Blake W. Stamps, Victoria A. Petryshyn, and Kalen Rasmussen. These collaborations reflect a sustained network of scientific inquiry and publication.

Best Publications

  • Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2

    Evan Bolyen;Jai Ram Rideout;Matthew R. Dillon;Nicholas A. Bokulich

  • Author Correction: Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2.

    Evan Bolyen;Jai Ram Rideout;Matthew R. Dillon;Nicholas A. Bokulich

  • A genomic catalog of Earth’s microbiomes

    Stephen Nayfach;Simon Roux;Rekha Seshadri;Daniel Udwary

  • Unexpected diversity and complexity of the Guerrero Negro hypersaline microbial mat.

    Ruth E. Ley;J. Kirk Harris;Joshua Wilcox;John R. Spear

  • Sulfate reducing bacteria in microbial mats: Changing paradigms, new discoveries

    L. K. Baumgartner;R. P. Reid;C. Dupraz;A. W. Decho

  • BugBase predicts organism-level microbiome phenotypes

    Ward T;Larson J;Meulemans J;Hillmann B

  • Hydrogen and bioenergetics in the Yellowstone geothermal ecosystem.

    John R. Spear;Jeffrey J. Walker;Thomas M. McCollom;Norman R. Pace

  • Bacterial diversity and sulfur cycling in a mesophilic sulfide-rich spring.

    Mostafa S. Elshahed;John M. Senko;Fares Z. Najar;Stephen M. Kenton

  • Geobiology of a microbial endolithic community in the Yellowstone geothermal environment

    Jeffrey J. Walker;John R. Spear;Norman R. Pace

  • Phylogenetic stratigraphy in the Guerrero Negro hypersaline microbial mat.

    J Kirk Harris;J Gregory Caporaso;Jeffrey J Walker;John R Spear

  • Phylogenetic diversity and ecology of environmental Archaea.

    Charles E Robertson;J Kirk Harris;John R Spear;Norman R Pace

  • Millimeter-scale genetic gradients and community-level molecular convergence in a hypersaline microbial mat.

    Victor Kunin;Jeroen Raes;J Kirk Harris;John R Spear

  • Modeling Reduction of Uranium U(VI) under Variable Sulfate Concentrations by Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

    John R. Spear;Linda A. Figueroa;Bruce D. Honeyman

  • Subsurface Microbial Diversity in Deep-Granitic-Fracture Water in Colorado

    Jason W. Sahl;Raleigh Schmidt;Elizabeth D. Swanner;Kevin W. Mandernack

  • The deep, hot biosphere: Twenty-five years of retrospection.

    Daniel R. Colman;Saroj Poudel;Blake W. Stamps;Eric S. Boyd;Eric S. Boyd

  • Diversity and Stratification of Archaea in a Hypersaline Microbial Mat

    Charles E. Robertson;John R. Spear;J. Kirk Harris;Norman R. Pace

  • Disturbance and temporal partitioning of the activated sludge metacommunity

    David C Vuono;Jan Benecke;Jochen Henkel;William C Navidi

  • Modeling the Removal of Uranium U(VI) from Aqueous Solutions in the Presence of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria

    John R. Spear;Linda A. Figueroa;Bruce D. Honeyman

  • Ancestral Absence of Electron Transport Chains in Patescibacteria and DPANN.

    Jacob P. Beam;Eric D. Becraft;Eric D. Becraft;Julia M. Brown;Frederik Schulz

  • Microbial diversity in modern marine stromatolites, Highborne Cay, Bahamas

    Laura K. Baumgartner;John R. Spear;Daniel H. Buckley;Norman R. Pace

  • Deciphering Biosignatures in Planetary Contexts

    Marjorie A. Chan;Nancy W. Hinman;Sally L. Potter-McIntyre;Keith E. Schubert

  • Complexity in Natural Microbial Ecosystems: The Guerrero Negro Experience

    John R. Spear;Ruth E. Ley;Alicia B. Berger;Norman R. Pace

  • Microbial Community Biofabrics in a Geothermal Mine Adit

    John R. Spear;Hazel A. Barton;Charles E. Robertson;Christopher A. Francis

  • [FeFe]-hydrogenase in Yellowstone National Park: Evidence for dispersal limitation and phylogenetic niche conservatism

    Eric S Boyd;Trinity L Hamilton;John R Spear;Matthew Lavin

  • Diverse capacity for 2-methylhopanoid production correlates with a specific ecological niche

    Jessica N Ricci;Maureen L Coleman;Maureen L Coleman;Paula V Welander;Paula V Welander;Alex L Sessions

  • Microbial Life in the Underworld: Biogenicity in Secondary Mineral Formations

    Hazel A. Barton;John R. Spear;Norman R. Pace

Frequent Co-Authors

Frank A. Corsetti
Frank A. Corsetti University of Southern California
William M. Berelson
William M. Berelson University of Southern California
Alexis S. Templeton
Alexis S. Templeton University of Colorado Boulder
Norman R. Pace
Norman R. Pace University of Colorado Boulder
Eric S. Boyd
Eric S. Boyd Montana State University
Stephen E. Grasby
Stephen E. Grasby Geological Survey of Canada
Ruth E. Ley
Ruth E. Ley Max Planck Society
Ramunas Stepanauskas
Ramunas Stepanauskas Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences
Jörg E. Drewes
Jörg E. Drewes Technical University of Munich
Charles E. Robertson
Charles E. Robertson University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

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