Ecology & evolution of amphibian pathogens
Ranaviruses are a group of emerging viruses that cause mass-mortality events in wild and cultured amphibians around the world. We study the evolutionary ecology of these viruses because of their potential conservation impacts, but also because they comprise a terrific model system for testing epidemiological and evolutionary theory. We can scale our studies from individuals in the lab to artificial populations and communities in mesocosms to natural populations in the wild. We focus on building a mechanistic understanding of disease transmission, but also study the persistence and virulence of these interesting viruses. Specific projects we are working on right now include: