Animal Behavior and Infectious Disease Symposium

Nick Keiser, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The Keiser Lab studies infectious disease ecology through the lens of animal behavior. The lab is interested in the relationship between individual and social determinants of disease and focus mostly on invertebrate animals (e.g., spiders, ticks, flies, snails) and their associated parasites. Keiser operates the Spider Parasite Digital Research (SPDR) Collection, which focuses on the parasites and parasitoids of spiders.

Lindsey Reisinger, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Reisinger is a freshwater community ecologist and her research program focuses on benthic invertebrates and invasive species. Nonindigenous species can alter ecosystems and threaten global biodiversity, so understanding the conditions that promote invasion success and control the impacts of invaders is important for management of today’s ecosystems.

Donald Behringer, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Research in Don Behringer's lab focuses on marine disease ecology and epidemiology, the resilience and restoration of marine communities impacted by human or natural disturbances, and the ecology and behavior of marine invertebrates.

Emily K. Miller-Cushon, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Miller-Cushon conducts research and teaching in the areas of applied animal behavior and welfare. Her lab focuses on the relationships between management, behavior, and welfare of farm animals.

Adam Wong, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. His program’s central focus is understanding how host-microbe interactions drive phenotypic diversity, spanning the areas of symbiosis, pathogenesis, nutrition and behavior. A major theme is to integrate omics, molecular and ecological approaches to better understand how the gut microbiome modulates insect behavioral and physiological responses to changing environments and the virulence mechanisms of gut pathogens.

Ana Longo is an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Her research as a disease ecologist and evolutionary biologist began in my effort to understand the role of fungal pathogens in global amphibian declines and species extinctions. She employs tools from population biology, microbial and community ecology, genomics, and evolutionary biology to distinguish mechanisms resulting in particular disease outcomes across species of amphibians and contrasting disease states (endemic infections vs. outbreaks).