Disease and physiology
We explore how diseases and physiological processes shape wildlife populations and how the environment influences how animal hosts perform. We have a particular focus on host–parasite interactions, infection risk and the ecological and environmental factors that drive these patterns.
Within the Disease and Physiology theme, researchers investigate how the distribution, movements and community composition of animal hosts influence the spatial and temporal patterns of disease outbreaks. Our work shows that infection risk is closely tied to where hosts live, how they move across landscapes and how they interact with other wildlife, livestock or human activities. Studies span a wide range of species groups, including large mammalian herbivores, rodents, birds, bats, carnivores and even marine species. Research topics include disease systems such as avian influenza, bovine tuberculosis and tick-borne pathogens, as well as the broader effects of species richness on disease risk through dilution or amplification dynamics.
We also examine host physiology and immunology. Here, researchers study how environmental conditions influence how animals cope with parasites, pathogens and other microorganisms. They explore how hosts vary in their immune responses across environmental gradients, how physiological condition and (co)infection status affect behaviour, movement and stress responses, and how these processes shape fitness at both individual and population level. This research contributes to the growing field of ecological immunology and helps address current knowledge gaps in how wild animals manage diverse parasitic pressures.
Together, these complementary approaches provide insight into the mechanisms linking host ecology, physiology and disease processes. We collaborate with virologists, entomologists, behavioural ecologists, immunologists and veterinary and human health experts.