Research

Research Keywords at a Glance

Behavioral ecology
Parasite/disease ecology and ecological immunology
Parasite community structure and coinfection
Fitness costs and health impacts of parasitism in natural populations
Wildlife monitoring, health and conservation
One health; ecohealth; coupled human and natural systems
Biocomplexity - fractal structure in behavior, complexity loss in stress and disease

Host-Parasite Ecology and Systems Dynamics in Transitioning Ecosystems

Here, we study how anthropogenic pressures might induce changes in host-parasite relationships by considering the dynamics of ecological communities in situ. A current model system for this work is in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where we investigate host and parasite assemblages in relation to varying levels of human influence, e.g. for oil palm development. This work is supported by a grant-in-aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) #2 0 H 0 3 3 3 3 (formerly #16H06181 ).

Here, we explore the various links between animal behavior and parasitism, including avoidance strategies, avenues for social immunity and patterns and mechanisms of parasite transmission in host social networks. This work involves naturalistic observations of behavior as well as experimentation, both in the field and in the laboratory.

Parasites & Host Behavior, with Special Emphasis on Social Systems Evolution

Behavior analysis of Indicator species for global change and animal health, welfare & conservation

Here, we work on animal-derived location and behavior tracking data to make inferences about animal and environmental functioning. See a recent poster about this work, presented at the 2019 International Conference on Conservation Biology in Kuala Lumpur, here ----->