Seminar: "Scavengers, Collars, Camera Traps, Remote Sensing, and Disease Detection: Sorting Out Pathogen Transmission for Pathogens with Environmental Reservoirs" - Dr. Jason K. Blackburn

Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution Seminar 

"Scavengers, Collars, Camera Traps, Remote Sensing, and Disease Detection: Sorting Out Pathogen Transmission for Pathogens with Environmental Reservoirs"

Jason K. Blackburn, PhD
Director, Spatial Epidemiology & Ecology Research Laboratory (SEER Lab)
Professor, Department of Geography
Principal Investigator, Emerging Pathogens Institute
University of Florida

Estimating the extent, intensity, and seasonality of zoonoses with environmentally mediated pathogens require a myriad of tools. Transmission of pathogens such as Bacillus anthracis, Brucella spp. and Burkholderia psuedomallei is primarily indirect, with hosts coming into contact with the pathogen in the environment. Host behaviors can be studied across spatial scales using GPS collars and camera traps to monitor animal movements and specific behaviors such as foraging. Pathogen reservoirs can vary from specific landscapes to individual carcass sites, and these can be detected with remotely sensed products and monitored in situ. We an frame interactions on the landscape within Johnson's orders of selection and model from first or second order to predict landscapes for the pathogen and hosts, down to second order selection for how home ranges or habitat selection varies by population. Third and fourth order selection can target specific areas of use or site fidelity and specific behaviors at patches.

In this talk, we will examine how scavengers play a role in finding disease cases, and how movement data, camera trap data, and several modeling approaches can inform our understanding of pathogen transmission for environmentally maintaned pathogens. We will also include examples of pathogen diagnostics and whole genome sequencing to differentiate pathogen populations to further refine risk estimates.