Research

My research lies at the intersection of Ecology, Epidemiology, and One Health, with a focus on understanding how environmental change influences the emergence, transmission, and impacts of infectious diseases. I am particularly interested in the ecological mechanisms that shape host–pathogen interactions and zoonotic disease risk across wildlife, domestic animals, and human populations. By combining fieldwork, laboratory analyses, large-scale datasets, and advanced quantitative approaches, I seek to identify the factors driving disease dynamics and their consequences for biodiversity conservation, animal health, and public health. My work integrates concepts from disease ecology, evolutionary biology, macroecology, and data science to address complex challenges in a rapidly changing world.

Pathogen and Parasite Risks for Wild Birds Across Agricultural and Natural Landscapes

Infectious diseases emerge from complex interactions among hosts, pathogens, and their environment. This research investigates how landscape structure, environmental change, host community composition, and patterns of contact among wild and domestic animals influence pathogen transmission and infection risk across ecological systems. We are particularly interested in understanding how agricultural expansion, habitat modification, and changes in biodiversity alter opportunities for pathogen circulation, spillover, and persistence. By integrating field studies, laboratory analyses, spatial ecology, epidemiology, and quantitative modeling, we seek to identify the ecological mechanisms that govern disease dynamics at the wildlife–livestock interface and evaluate their consequences for wildlife conservation, animal health, and One Health systems.

Biodiversity Restoration and Infectious Disease Risk: Insights from Global Evidence

Ecosystem restoration is increasingly promoted as a strategy to recover biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, yet its consequences for infectious disease dynamics remain poorly understood. This research synthesizes evidence from ecological restoration projects worldwide to evaluate how restoration influences pathogen transmission, parasite prevalence, and disease risk across wildlife populations. Using systematic reviews and meta-analytical approaches, we investigate whether restoring biodiversity and ecological processes consistently reduces disease risk, identify the environmental and biological factors driving variation among studies, and assess the conditions under which restoration may mitigate or amplify pathogen transmission. 

Global drivers of haemosporidian parasites 

Why are some bird species more likely to be infected by parasites than others? This explores how ecological traits, species interactions, and evolutionary history shape patterns of infection across bird communities worldwide. Using large-scale global datasets and phylogenetic comparative methods, we investigate the factors that influence the prevalence of avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Parahaemoproteus) across diverse host species and environments. This work examines how host abundance, habitat specialization, and interactions among parasite groups contribute to infection risk, providing insights into the ecological mechanisms that govern host–pathogen dynamics at broad spatial scales. 

URBAN-FIRST REAPPERANCE OF AVIAN POXVIRUS AFTER THE COVID-19 ANTHROPAUSE REVEALS HUMAN INFLUENCE ON WILDLIFE DISEASE DYNAMICS 

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented natural experiment to examine how rapid changes in human activity influence wildlife disease dynamics. During the global anthropause, restrictions on travel and human movement altered ecological interactions across urban, suburban, and rural environments, potentially affecting opportunities for pathogen transmission. Using more than a decade of monitoring data from House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) in Arizona, this research investigates how changes in human presence influenced the prevalence of avian poxvirus infections. By comparing infection patterns before and after the anthropause across an urbanization gradient, this study provides insights into the complex links between human behavior, wildlife ecology, and infectious disease transmission. 

Foraging specialization and habitat breadth interact to shape avian sexual dichromatism in tanagers

Sexual differences in plumage coloration are among the most striking features of bird diversity, yet the ecological factors driving their evolution remain incompletely understood. This research investigates how ecological specialization influences the evolution of sexual dichromatism across passerine birds. By integrating global datasets on plumage coloration, foraging ecology, habitat use, and phylogenetic relationships, we examine whether species with specialized ecological niches are more likely to evolve pronounced differences between males and females. 

The relationship between urbanization, habitat strucutre, soil, and infection in bank voles (Myodes glareolus)

Urbanization is transforming natural ecosystems worldwide, creating novel environments that alter wildlife ecology and the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. This research investigates how landscape characteristics, urban development, host health, and gut microbiota influence the occurrence of zoonotic pathogens in bank voles (Myodes glareolus), one of the most important wildlife reservoirs of infectious agents in northern Europe. By integrating pathogen screening, environmental data, and microbiome analyses across urban and natural habitats in Sweden and Finland, we explore the ecological factors that shape infection risk and pathogen co-occurrence.