Functional landscape connectivity and the dynamics of parasite invasion

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There is increasing evidence that the spread of parasitic organisms into new regions is strongly affected by both the behaviour of their hosts and the characteristics of landscape in which those hosts live. However, accurately representing fine-scale behavioural processes within population-scale models of invasion remains a major challenge. Functional landscape connectivity, the movement potential of organisms across a landscape resulting from their behavioural responses to landscape structure, provides a useful conceptual link between behavioural processes and patterns of invasion. Over the next five years, I will focus on the role of host behaviour in parasite invasion, exploring the concept of functional landscape connectivity for parasites in the context of Lyme disease emergence in Canada. Through a combination of field studies and modelling, I will develop this conceptual framework via three research axes: 1) the mechanisms by which host behaviour and landscape structure interact to drive parasite invasion, 2) the impact of host biodiversity on parasite invasion at the landscape scale and 3) the impact of host migration on parasite invasion at the continental scale. This research program will establish new concepts and methods for linking the process of parasite invasion with host spatial ecology. This integration will provide novel insight for forecasting the range expansion of existing parasites with climate change, and for predicting the spread and impact of emerging diseases.