I am a current postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia in the King Lab. I explore interactions between management efforts and eco-evolutionary dynamics using quantitative methods, thinking about two major questions: (1) how does management impact evolutionary dynamics and (2) how can managers account for ongoing evolution to achieve their goals? I have predominantly addressed these questions in host-pathogen systems.
Before coming to UBC, I obtained my PhD in Population Biology at UC Davis under the supervision of Marissa Baskett. I completed my undergraduate degree in Biology and Mathematics at St. Olaf College.
I have studied a range of questions related to disease and eco-evolutionary dyanmics. Below are some of my current projects. I am always excited to chat with people about disease dynamics, human-induced evolution, and potential collaborations!
Parasite evolution in domestication settings: Sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) are a common nusience parasite on salmon farms that can rapidly evolve to novel aquaculture conditions. One type of novel condition is intensive treatment, which is used to control louse populations; this treatment can reduce burden but is costly and might increase resistance evolution. Moreover, when lice move from aquaculture to wild populations, they can depress wild salmon populations. To explore possible trade-offs between these various outcomes, my co-authors and I developed a mathematical model of sea louse population dyanamics with evolution, now published in Theoretical Ecology. We identified strategies that allow achievement of economic and conservation goals, but these strategies can lead to high resistance evolution.
In addition to adapting to treatment, parasites might change their life history strategy due to increased density of hosts and release from predation. In the sea louse-salmon system, this includes increased sublethal virulence--where parasites slow host growth but do not directly kill hosts--in domestic settings, compared to wild settings. My co-authors and I are building a mathematical model to understand the evolution of sublethal virulence, complementing the rich body of theory exploring evolution of lethal virulence. We show that release from predation leads to evolution of higher sublethal viruelnce.
Evolutionary rescue in host-pathogen systems: Disease can lead to host population declines. Simultaneously, hosts can evolve resistance to parasites across many dimensions: reduced mortality, increased recovery, etc, which may allow for populaiton recovery. I am creating several models to explore the evolutionary rescue process in host-pathogen systems. In addition, I co-authored a Science Perspective on rescue.
Bitter crab disease: Bitter crab disease (Hematodinium perezi) is a fatal disease infecting snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the Eastern Bering Sea. With collaborators at NOAA, I developed a spatio-temporal statistical model to understand patterns of bitter crab disease across the region over the past ~30 years, now published in ICES Journal of Marine Science.
