We study the ecology and evolution of vectors of human and wildlife disease.
Mosquitoes have been pervasive elements of our landscape and have influenced human societies for millennia, causing severe disease outbreaks and influencing the outcomes of major conflicts. To understand how mosquitoes transmit disease, it is critical to understand their ecology and evolution—why mosquitoes and their pathogens are where they are.
Our research focuses on understanding the environmental factors influencing the occurrence and dynamics of disease vectors from local to global scales from both ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Often, this leads us into examining human impacts on vector ecology, and ultimately how altered ecological processes influence trajectories of evolution.
News and achievements
Kathleen is graduating this May, and completed a stellar senior thesis where she reports her work on stage-specific heat waves in the tiger mosquito. Stay tuned to see where it gets published! Great work, Kathleen!
Mike Moore, former LEC postdoc with Drs. Kim Medley and Kasey Fowler-Finn (SLU), published his work on extinction risk in ornamented dragonflies.
Dr. Katie Westby co-authored a paper showing artificial light at night affects the timing of diapause through its affects on genes driving circadian rythm.
Ben published his thesis on geographic variation in heat tolerance in the journal Frontiers. Congrats Ben!
Michel Ohmer, PhD, has accepted a 1-year position as a Living Earth Collaborative postdoctoral fellow with Kim, Kasey Fowler-Finn at Saint Louis University, and Lauren Augustine at the St. Louis Zoo as co-sponsors.
Our paper published in the Journal of Applied Ecology last month garnered a bit of media attention.
When the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) arrived in the United States in the 1980s, it took the invasive blood-sucker only one year to spread from Houston to St. Louis. New research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that the mosquitoes at the northern limit of their current range are successfully using time-capsule-like eggs to survive conditions that are colder than those in their native territory.
Mike Moore, PhD, has begun a 2-year position as a Living Earth Collaborative postdoctoral fellow
It’s rare that scientists see the good in the presence of an invasive species. But Washington University in St. Louis researchers discovered that a native mosquito in Missouri has fewer parasites when it shares its water with an interloper.
Thomas VanHorn, former Tyson high school TERFer and WashU undergraduate fellow research in our lab, will have his independent research project published* in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology.
Solny presented some of her work from the Tyson prescribed fire experiment at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center yesterday.
Solny Adalsteinsson has accepted the post-doc position in our lab and will be joining us in July 2016.
Victims of chronic flooding, dozens of homes in the Baden neighborhood will be demolished this summer. But a team of Washington University in St. Louis researchers, together with the City of St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Missouri Department of Conservation, are determined to help the community create something better in the neighborhood.
Our paper with colleagues at the University of Central Florida is in press at Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment.
Dr. Katie Westby recently joined the Tyson team. She came to us from Dr. Steve Juliano's lab at Illinois State, so she obviously has world-class mossie skills. Welcome Katie!
Our work using landscape genetics to asses range-wide gene flow for the invasive Asian tiger mosquito in the US is featured in the Record.