We are in an era of rapidly changing climate, threatening animal species that form complex relationships with microbes for essential benefits. To understand how these interactions will respond to certain climate futures from molecular to ecological scales, we have established the NSF Biological Integration Institute, INSITE — The INstitute for Symbiotic Interactions, Training, and Education in the Face of a Changing Climate. INSITE brings together a multi-disciplinary team at the University of California Merced and Michigan State University.