Event recap
Animal Behavior & Infectious Disease Symposium
The EPI gathered experts from across the University of Florida campus to lead discussions about animal behavior and infectious disease ecology, two intrinsically linked fields of study.
Animal behavior and infectious disease ecology are intrinsically linked fields of study. Animals’ behavioral traits can predict their likelihood of exposure to parasites, infection can alter the expression of behavioral phenotypes, and behavioral processes like social interactions and movement scale up to drive epidemiological dynamics. The goal of this symposium is to unite researchers at the University of Florida whose research spans the fields of animal behavior, infectious disease, parasitology, wildlife ecology, and more to find commonalities across study systems and empirical approaches.
Event Recording
Event Highlights
Animal Behavior and Infectious Disease Articles
Research Feature
Invasive snakes brought a parasite that is killing Florida’s native reptiles
In addition to preying on endangered native wildlife, the invasive Burmese python also brought a deadly parasite to Florida’s snakes: Raillietiella orientalis, also known as snake lungworm.
Research News
Chronic wasting disease, fatal to deer, arrives in Florida
UF scientists keep communication channels open with deer farmers amid the detection of chronic wasting disease in Florida.
Research Feature
UF researchers fight infectious diseases in the EPI Aquatic Pathobiology Lab
The Aquatic Pathobiology Laboratory, operated by the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, offers investigators lab space to research infectious diseases affecting fresh- and saltwater organisms.
Research Brief
Study: Where bison roam could spread microbes
A new study from University of Florida and Kansas State University researchers found that bison carry plant-associated fungi in their saliva, with the potential to spread fungi across the prairie.
Meet the Speakers
UF Department of Biology
Nick Keiser, Ph.D.
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.
UF School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences
Lindsey Reisinger, Ph.D.
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.
UF School of forest, fisheries, and geomatics sciences
Donald Behringer, Ph.D.
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.
UF Department of Animal Sciences
Emily K. Miller-Cushon, Ph.D.
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.
UF Department of Entomology and nematology
Adam Wong, Ph.D.
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.
UF Department of Biology
Ana Longo, Ph.D.
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).