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Research Interests:
Disease Ecology
My research focuses on scaling infection processes from individuals to populations by integrating empirical estimates of infection intensity, host and pathogen traits, to build temperature dependent mechanistic transmission models that explicitly account for individual infection loads. I used African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) and the chytrid pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) to quantify temperature-dependent infection loads and parameterize Metabolic Theory-based thermal mismatch models of infection dynamics at the individual and population level.
(Image: Cultured Bd from my work in the Raffel Lab studying disease transmission among hosts.)
My research focuses on scaling infection processes from individuals to populations by integrating empirical estimates of infection intensity, host and pathogen traits, to build temperature dependent mechanistic transmission models that explicitly account for individual infection loads. I used African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) and the chytrid pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) to quantify temperature-dependent infection loads and parameterize Metabolic Theory-based thermal mismatch models of infection dynamics at the individual and population level.
(Image: Cultured Bd from my work in the Raffel Lab studying disease transmission among hosts.)
Evolutionary Ecology
Anthropogenic climate change is altering thermal landscapes, with potential consequences for ectotherm performance and evolution across ecosystems. I apply data digitization workflows and comparative analyses to quantify ecomorphological variation and performance metrics. This includes work on aerial gliding performance in arboreal geckos and metabolic thermal performance across amphibian taxonomic groups. My work aims to contribute to understanding how functional traits and performance have evolved across lineages in response to habitat structure and shifting climatic conditions.
(Image: Digitization process of gecko trajectory points (purple points) from my work in the Heinicke Lab studying gecko descent trajectories.)
Anthropogenic climate change is altering thermal landscapes, with potential consequences for ectotherm performance and evolution across ecosystems. I apply data digitization workflows and comparative analyses to quantify ecomorphological variation and performance metrics. This includes work on aerial gliding performance in arboreal geckos and metabolic thermal performance across amphibian taxonomic groups. My work aims to contribute to understanding how functional traits and performance have evolved across lineages in response to habitat structure and shifting climatic conditions.
(Image: Digitization process of gecko trajectory points (purple points) from my work in the Heinicke Lab studying gecko descent trajectories.)
Amphibian Ecology
Amphibians provide valuable systems for linking organismal physiology and life history to community and ecosystem processes, and they are widely used as indicators of environmental change. My research in amphibian ecology emphasizes how environmental variation and human-induced disturbance influence population health and trait distributions across space and time. By pairing natural history with quantitative analyses, I aim to clarify the mechanisms by which environmental stressors translate into population-level responses in ectotherms.
(Image: Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) from my work studying metabolic performance rates in colaboration with Detroit Zoo.)
Amphibians provide valuable systems for linking organismal physiology and life history to community and ecosystem processes, and they are widely used as indicators of environmental change. My research in amphibian ecology emphasizes how environmental variation and human-induced disturbance influence population health and trait distributions across space and time. By pairing natural history with quantitative analyses, I aim to clarify the mechanisms by which environmental stressors translate into population-level responses in ectotherms.
(Image: Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) from my work studying metabolic performance rates in colaboration with Detroit Zoo.)
Wildlife Forensics
In my wildlife forensics work, I use trail cameras to generate standardized detection data that can be analyzed to quantify wildlife occurrence data and population size. I apply random encounter models to estimate animal activity levels and derive population density estimates from detection rates while accounting for imperfect detection and variation in movement behavior. These quantitative, noninvasive surveys provide defensible estimates that can inform management questions, support wildlife forensic inference, and guide real-world conservation decisions.
(Image: Coyote (Canis latrans) from a trail camera used during a observational wildlife survey.)
In my wildlife forensics work, I use trail cameras to generate standardized detection data that can be analyzed to quantify wildlife occurrence data and population size. I apply random encounter models to estimate animal activity levels and derive population density estimates from detection rates while accounting for imperfect detection and variation in movement behavior. These quantitative, noninvasive surveys provide defensible estimates that can inform management questions, support wildlife forensic inference, and guide real-world conservation decisions.
(Image: Coyote (Canis latrans) from a trail camera used during a observational wildlife survey.)
Sample interactive image of 3-dimensional gecko gliding trajectories obtained from my work in the Heinicke Lab. We tested 7 species' gliding ability. Each species is represented by the various point colors.
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