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<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nOur amphibian microbiome research is focused on a basic ecological question\u2013 what is the relationship between community structure and function in these complex symbiont communities.\u00a0 In an age of biodiversity loss, understanding the impacts of changing species diversity on function is increasingly important. We are particularly interested in the roles these microbial symbionts play in preventing disease.\u00a0 Infectious disease is devastating many amphibian populations.\u00a0 While much of my previous work has focused on identifying the causes of amphibian declines, one problem I have grappled with is what to do once we know the cause.\u00a0 How can we actually save amphibians?\u00a0 As part of our microbiome work, we are also addressing whether beneficial bacteria can prevent fungal infection.\u00a0 Beneficial bacteria (probiotics) are used in humans, livestock and for aquaculture.\u00a0If we can learn enough about the bacterial microbiota that lives on amphibian skin, we may actually be able to use some of them for the treatment and prevention of disease in natural populations.<\/p>\n
Systems biology of host-microbiome-parasite interactions in honey bees<\/strong><\/p>\n Individual- to population-level impacts of the house finch ocular microbiome on disease dynamics<\/strong><\/p>\n We are collaborating with Dana Hawley<\/a> at Virginia Tech, and Meghan May<\/a> at the University of New England, on a newly-funded NSF project examining how the ocular microbiome of house finches can impact infection by a pathogen that causes conjunctivitis and how the microbiome of individuals can then impact population-level disease dynamics.<\/p>\n Wheat seed symbionts and fungal disease in crops<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/belden.wp.prod.es.cloud.vt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bees2-300x149.jpg\")
<\/a>We recently received NSF funding to use the honey bee gut microbiome to expand our knowledge of the interactions that occur among host, microbiome and parasite genes to alter parasite exposure outcomes.\u00a0 Both network models and experimental manipulations of the gut microbiome will be used to further our understanding of the microbiome, and its role in host defense against a microsporidian parasite, Nosema<\/em>. This project is being completed in collaboration with David Haak<\/a>, T.M. Murali<\/a> and Rick Fell, all at Virginia Tech, and Jenifer Walke<\/a> at Eastern Washington University.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/belden.wp.prod.es.cloud.vt.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_6377-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>I have loved plants since working as a plant field technician at the Sevilleta LTER<\/a> in New Mexico after I graduated from college.\u00a0 But until recently, I had never done any research with them.\u00a0 After reading Dan Barber\u2019s book, \u201cThe Third Plate<\/a>\u201d, I decided it was time to merge my love of food with my research program.\u00a0 And through some on-campus introductions and collaborations, we started a small project working on wheat seed endosymbionts. Wheat is a globally important staple grain crop, and faces threats from fungal pathogens and climate change.\u00a0 Trying to increase crop yield in the face of increased disease pressure and other major environmental stressors is a major challenge we face.\u00a0 Traditional wheat breeding can be done to select resistant strains for planting, and this can also be based on genetic screening for the presence of disease resistant alleles.\u00a0 However, microbial endophyte communities, the plant \u2018microbiome\u2019 that resides in plant tissues, constitute a relatively unexplored area of potential for crop improvement. So we are beginning to explore the role of seed endophytes in wheat development and disease resistance in collaboration with David Haak<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Digenetic trematodes are a diverse group of parasitic flatworms (Phylum Platyhelminthes; Class Trematoda; Subclass Digenea).\u00a0 They can infect all vertebrate classes, and are common parasites in freshwater systems containing aquatic snails, which serve as obligate first intermediate hosts. Most digenetic trematodes infect three successive host species, although there is considerable variation in the life cycle.\u00a0 In an ecological sense, trematodes can be viewed as representative of a group of wildlife parasites and pathogens that have complex life-cycles involving multiple host or vector species that operate at very different spatial scales.\u00a0 We are focused both on understanding the factors that influence trematode dynamics in free-living wildlife populations, and also on using trematode systems as to elucidate some of the general underlying ecological mechanisms that facilitate patterns of host-parasite interactions across landscapes, especially in stream systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"