University of Pittsburgh Department of Biological Sciences presents:
2019 Spring Seminar Series
Dr. Lynn B. Martin
University of South Florida
"Anthropogenic stressors and host competence for infectious diseases"
Host competence is one of the most influential drivers of infectious disease dynamics, yet we still understand little about what makes some species and individual hosts better able than others to become infected with and transmit parasites to other susceptible hosts. In this talk, I’ll describe two research efforts on host competence in my lab. One questions whether immune defenses and other host traits affecting competence scale with body size as most behavioral, morphological and physiological traits do. Already, we’re finding that big and small vertebrate hosts build their immune systems differently, and that this variation has implications for disease risk when parasites can infect multiple host species. A second research aim involves the influence of light pollution in avian coping with West Nile virus. We have evidence, at several levels of organization, that this pervasive yet under-appreciated form of anthropogenic impact can exacerbate arbovirus risk for humans and wildlife.
Monday, April 22, 2019
169 Crawford Hall
11:00 A.M.
10:50 A.M. refreshments
Host: Dr. Jessica Stephenson