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Disease Ecology
Using unique longitudinal datasets on African buffalo collected by the Jolles lab at Kruger National Park, South Africa, I am studying the causes and consequences of animal sociality as they relate to disease spread and microbiome communities. Topics and keywords: contact heterogeneity, pathogen exposure, infection risk, co-infection, respiratory pathogens, gut microbiomes, animal social network analysis, conditional random fields models, environmental variation |
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Organismal Ecology
I am studying the life history, population biology, ecology, and behavior of an incredibly cool fossorial frog, the eastern spadefoot. This species ranges widely across the eastern united states, but few studies systematically mark and recapture individuals found in upland (non-wetland) habitats, especially juveniles. Topics and keywords: landscape and wetland ecology, population modeling, biomass, growth models, occupancy and detection probability, spatially explicit capture recapture (SECR), multi-state mark-recapture, Monte Carlo experiments, environmental correlates of behavior and life history, |
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Conservation and applied science
The global wildlife trade presents a significant threat to wildlife conservation. I am leveraging public trade data to develop computational tools to predict network topology (shape, or structure) as well as identify useful model species for studying trade patterns and change over time. Topics and keywords: Wildlife exploitation, disease, trade networks, conservation, network portrait, portrait divergence, information theory, machine learning, XGBoost, network centrality |
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Snakebite Envenoming
Snakebite envenoming is a devastating neglected tropical disease. I am interested in studying integrative approaches to solving the global snakebite crisis, drawing from tools in social ecological systems frameworks and complex systems theory. Topics and keywords: Neglected tropical disease, social ecological systems, citation networks, human-wildlife conflict, scientific language |
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Homogeneity and exclusion in STEM
I am using theories in resilience thinking to understand structural homogeneity, exclusion, and injustice in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. I am exploring why institutional attempts to diversify institutions often fail, the unfortunate commodification and exploitation of diversity by universities, and identifying pathways for escaping cycles of inequity that continue to plague even the most well-intentioned institutions. Topics and keywords: STEM equity, emergent inequity, structural inequality, resilience thinking |
Past Projects
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1. Effects of long-distance translocation on Trimeresurus albolabris, a common venomous arboreal snake that is involved in human-wildlife conflict in tropical east Asia. We found that long-distance translocation negatively affects survival, movement and reproduction.
2. Reproductive biology and natural history of Trimeresurus albolabris (white-lipped pit viper) in Hong Kong. T. albolabris displays a temperate pit viper mating system in the subtropical climate of Hong Kong, storing sperm over winter. We also documented underground brumation and recorded growth rates over active seasons of different demographic categories. Collaborators: Nancy Karraker (University of Rhode Island), David Dudgeon (Hong Kong university), Paolo Martelli (Ocean Park), and Gary Ades and Paul Crow (Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden). Funding: USDA and Research Grants Council of Hong Kong |
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Anthropogenic impacts on Sarcocystis parasite transmission in reticulated pythons
Collaborators: David Bickford (National University of Singapore), Mary-Ruth Low (Rimba, Malaysia), and Abraham Mathew and Sonja Luz (Wildlife Reserves Singapore) Funding: National University of Singapore, Wildlife Reserves Singapore |