University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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Ecology and evolution of infectious disease aims to understand and predict the dynamics of host-pathogen interactions in time and space and to explore the outcomes of their co-evolutionary arms race.

  • Timothy James:
    • Timothy James' research addresses mating and recombination in fungi using molecular techniques. He particularly focuses on the evolution of fungal mating incompatibility systems, as well as the evolution of alternatives to traditional sexual reproduction such as heterokaryosis and mitotic recombination. He studies organisms including mushrooms, water molds and pathogens such as the agent of amphibian chytridiomycosis.
  • Aaron King:
    • Aaron King's research focuses primarily on the ecology and evolution of infectious disease. His research also includes modeling specific systems, analyzing models and data using sophisticated mathematical, computational and statistical tools, and developing general methods to advance theoretical ecology and evolutionary biology.
  • Annette Ostling:
    • Annette Ostling's research explores niche versus neutral structure in population and communities, linking functional trait diversity with coexistence mechanisms, especially in forests. She also studies the robustness of coexistence and limits to similarity, the role of competitive interactions in range shifts under climate change, macroecological patterns and the influence of spatial structure on the evolution of species interactions and communities. Her interests also include the impacts of spatial structure on the evolution of pathogen transmission and virulence.
  • Mercedes Pascual:
    • Mercedes Pascual's research interests are in theoretical ecology and disease ecology.
  • Pejman Rohani:
    • Pejman Rohani studies population biology of host-natural enemy interactions. His research primarily focuses on the ecology and evolution of host-pathogen systems, using mathematical and statistical approaches to understand and explain empirical observations and make policy predictions.