Problems in evolutionary ecology and ecological parasitology: empirical tests, meta-analyses and models

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The long-term goal of research funded by my NSERC discovery grant is to determine ecological and evolutionary factors that influence success and impact of parasitic organisms on their hosts. Parasites live in or on other living organisms, and derive some or all of their energetic requirements and/or nutrients from those other organisms, termed hosts. How good parasites are at doing this, and how good they are in getting themselves or their offspring to new hosts, determines their success or fitness in an evolutionary sense. My students and I are particularly interested in the following problems: -why some parasites have broad host species ranges, and the consequences of broad host species ranges for both parasites and their hosts; -why males and females within particular host species show different developmental trajectories and whether they are differentially susceptible to parasites following their development; -whether changes to landscapes and habitats caused by human activities has implications for parasitism of hosts and impact of parasitic organisms; and -whether certain parasites change the sex of their hosts and what impact, if any, this has on host populations. My laboratory typically uses a breadth of approaches including empirical tests based on observational and experimental designs, meta-analyses and theoretical models. My work is both fundamental and applied in scope - from simply understanding how organisms deal with their parasites to addressing issues of concern to wildlife health, particularly in ecosystems undergoing rapid change (e.g., Bay of Fundy intertidal and Arctic coastal habitats). My work is largely field based and also requires use of modern tools (e.g., molecular methods for diagnostics). We study model host-parasite associations, such as damselflies and their ectoparasitic mites, for testing many current and relevant ideas. We also discover new and potentially very important parasites, e.g., microsporidians of mudshrimp.