Research

Linking Environmental Change and Disease Risk

I broadly study how environmental change reshapes the ecology of vector-borne diseases. My work focuses on how climate extremes and habitat restoration alter interactions among hosts, vectors, and pathogens. By combining field surveys, molecular tools, and long-term ecological data, I aim to understand the processes that govern pathogen persistence and spillover in dynamic landscapes.

Restoration, Woodrats, and Spillover Risk

The restoration of UCSB’s North Campus Open Space (NCOS) has transformed a former golf course into a thriving coastal wetland, reconnecting habitat with Coal Oil Point Reserve. This renewal has reintroduced native species, including the dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes), with important consequences for disease ecology.

Woodrats as ecosystem engineers
Woodrats build middens that provide humid microhabitats where ticks thrive. The resurgence of N. fuscipes raises new questions for public health and conservation alike: these rodents are known reservoirs for Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacterium that causes Lyme disease) and key hosts for Ixodes pacificus, the primary vector in California. Their return may therefore establish novel hotspots of tick activity within the restored landscape.

Vectors and pathogens in transition
We are monitoring how the reintroduction of N. fuscipes influences the distribution and abundance of Ixodes pacificus. At the same time, we are tracking whether Borrelia burgdorferi and other pathogens are circulating in this shifting community of small mammals and their ectoparasites. This approach allows us to determine whether restoration facilitates not only the return of native species but also the reestablishment of vector–pathogen systems.

Spillover in a post-restoration landscape
By comparing tick and small mammal communities before and after restoration, we can assess how ecological recovery shapes pathogen dynamics and potential human exposure. Because NCOS is also a community recreation space, this work provides a rare opportunity to connect ecosystem renewal with questions of public health and spillover risk.

Climate Whiplash and Tick-borne Disease Ecology

California’s climate is becoming more volatile, with prolonged droughts followed by record-breaking rainfall. These rapid swings, known as climate whiplash, create natural experiments for studying how extremes reshape vector and pathogen dynamics.

Tick population responses to extremes
We examine whether drought suppresses tick populations and whether populations rebound when wetter conditions return.

Pathogen persistence and reinvasion
We investigate whether drought drives local “extinctions” of pathogens, such as Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease), and whether wet years enable reinvasion.

Forecasting hotspots under climate change
By integrating surveillance data, new field collections, and climate records, this work connects extreme weather to shifting risks of vector-borne disease.

Photos from the field!

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse