Publications

Corresponding Authors: Daniel J. Becker, daniel.becker88@gmail.com; Richard J. Hall, dr.richard.hall@gmail.com; Sonia Altizer, saltizer@uga.edu Summary Author: Clarissa Keisling Photo Credit: Richard Hall Ecological and environmental research frequently reports on the negative anthropogenic effects on wildlife, with habitat loss and destruction as a major focus. However, human activities including agriculture, urbanization, and supplemental feeding can alternatively […]

Corresponding author: Michelle V. Evans, mvevans@uga.edu While vector-borne diseases have long been a major public health issue, the rate at which new diseases are emerging is increasing dramatically, making it difficult for researchers to keep up with effective vaccines and prevention protocols. Gaps in our current understanding of disease emergence also […]

Corresponding authors: Navideh Noori, nnoori@uga.edu; John M. Drake, john@drakeresearchlab.com; and Pejman Rohani, Rohani@uga.edu Since the widespread introduction of the polio vaccine in the mid 1900s, poliomyelitis, an acute viral disease, has been almost eradicated, with a decline of over 99% in the annual wild poliovirus (WPV) incidence. However, challenges including conflict, religious beliefs, and social […]

Corresponding authors: Ana Bento, anisabelbento@gmail.com; Pejman Rohani, Rohani@uga.edu Despite high vaccine coverage, a recent national resurgence of pertussis (whooping cough) in England and Wales has researchers questioning the drivers behind the sudden surge of this highly contagious respiratory disease. Interestingly, researchers have noted a shift in the affected age-distribution of […]

Corresponding Authors: John P. Schmidt, jps@uga.edu; John M. Drake, john@drakeresearchlab.com; Patrick Stephens, prsteph@uga.edu The increasing globalization of human, animal, and plant populations drives researchers to investigate how, and at what rate, introduced species will successfully become part of a native ecosystem. For many organisms, certain traits are often related to […]

Corresponding Author: John Drake, john@drakeresearchlab.com When studying infectious disease dynamics, it is important to understand the factors that facilitate (or prevent) pathogen invasion into a host population. For example, host population density may affect the pathogen invasion threshold, or the level below which a pathogen is unable to invade a […]

Corresponding Author: Mike Strand, mrstrand@uga.edu Just as humans depend on our gut bacteria for efficient digestion, many insects also harbor bacterial symbionts that facilitate healthy functioning and provide protection. For example, pea aphids (A. pisum) depend on the bacterial symbiont H. defensa, which protects them from parasitic wasps (A. ervi). […]

Corresponding Author: Paige Miller, paige.miller@uga.edu Although vaccinations are widely utilized, many childhood infections, such as measles and whooping cough, continue to pose health threats for human populations. An alternative method for reducing the negative impacts of infectious diseases involves predicting disease emergence using early warning signals (EWS), which are statistical […]

Corresponding Author: James E. Byers, jebyers@uga.edu For any ecosystem, interactions between parasites and their hosts are complex, and are often influenced by changing environmental conditions. Even at small spatial scales, such as coastal intertidal zones, changing conditions can affect parasite abundance and infection rates, which may ultimately regulate the distribution […]

Corresponding Author: Alyssa Gehman, alyssamina@gmail.com Summary Writer: Trippe Ross, tross312@uga.edu Host organisms and their parasites undergo physiological changes in response to climate warming, and these responses may alter the spread and transmission of infectious diseases.  Ectotherms are especially sensitive to environmental temperature, and climate warming may reduce or increase disease […]