CAREER: Community Ecology of Disease

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Biodiversity loss and emerging infectious disease are among the most pressing environmental threats to society. While traditional biomedical research focuses on single-host, single-parasite systems, there is an urgent need to incorporate community ecology into disease research to understand host-pathogen interactions and patterns of disease emergence. Growing evidence suggests that other species in communities, including predators, alternative hosts, and other parasites, can alter patterns of disease and could provide novel tools for the control of emerging infections. The aim of this proposal is to bridge the gap between community ecology and disease ecology by determining how host, non-host, and parasite diversity interact to affect disease risk in a group of globally threatened vertebrates: amphibians. The investigators will combine field surveys of free-living and parasite communities in California with controlled experiments to determine how patterns of biodiversity function to influence the risk of disease. This work will lay a foundation for determining the role of parasites in ecological communities and developing effective tools for managing emerging infections in humans and wildlife.This research will capitalize on the public's interest in the decline of amphibians. The four outreach activities are designed to reach a wide audience. First, in collaboration with the National Geographic Society and the USGS, this research will enhance a citizen science program focused on reporting deformed frogs. Second, the researchers will develop a documentary media package with the goal of promoting freshwater awareness and amphibian conservation. Third, the PI has partnered with biology textbook publishers Pearson and Sinauer to design an educational module for high school and undergraduate students. Beyond the PI's own classes, this effort will reach tens of thousands of students annually in classrooms and online learning environments (MasteringBiology). Building on the PI's ongoing commitment to involve undergraduate researchers from under-served groups, the investigators will partner with the Colorado Diversity Initiative to promote experiential research opportunities.