Publications

A variety of generic indicators have been proposed to identify gradual changes in a population that can be used to anticipate the onset or conclusion of an epidemic.  Many of these indicators rely on critical slowing down, a phenomenon where a system takes a longer time to return to a […]

Seasonal migration shapes when and where animals are infected with pathogens, but physiological costs associated with migration can also cause latent infections to reactivate (“migratory relapse”). We develop a mathematical model to explore how migratory relapse influences peak infection risk and its seasonal timing. We show that relapse can amplify […]

Understanding what prevents or enables the evolution of resistance to disease is critical for both understanding the natural world and also managing many modern societal problems, from agriculture to medicine. In previous work, we had shown, for what we believe to be the first time in an animal, that a […]

Understanding biodiversity patterns over space and time requires using data collected across large scales. One way to collect these data is to compile databases of multiple independent studies. However, compiled databases often magnify problems with sampling bias, where some taxa, geographic regions, and ecological questions have been studied far more […]

Corresponding Author: Elizabeth Warburton, ewarburton@uga.edu   Although drylands comprise over 41% of Earth’s surface, their parasite fauna remains understudied. This is a critical oversight as desert parasite communities are exemplars within the extremes of parasite ecology and thus readily lend themselves to testing hypotheses of virulence evolution, host specialization, and […]

Diarrheal disease (DD) is responsible for over 700,000 child deaths annually and, in Madagascar, is the most common cause of death across all ages. Because the pathogens that cause DD are environmentally transmitted, spatial patterns in the burden of disease are thought to be strongly related to spatial patterns in […]

Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that affects millions of people each year. Although treatments are generally successful, recurrences can occur. Some of these strains do not respond to traditional medication and increase the risk of death; these strains are known as […]

Summary by: Culzean Kennedy Transmissibility serves as one of the primary indicators of the threat posed by an emergent pathogen. The incorporation of this important function into compartmental models enables researchers interested in forecasting epidemic dynamics to estimate the size of infectious and susceptible populations. Early in an epidemic, in […]

Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak Heartworms are common parasites that spread through mosquitoes and infect domestic dogs and coyotes. Since the early 2000’s, veterinarians have diagnosed and reported infections during annual checkups. These tests provide awealth of data on the transmission of the parasite throughout the United States. Previous research has […]

Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak How has urbanization affected wildlife health? As cities become more common, this question has become increasingly relevant. Urban areas can interfere with a species’ range, food sources, and interactions, which impacts their health. A group of scientists that included CEID members Cecilia Sánchez and Daniel Becker […]