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Elucidating The Factors That Modulate The Distribution Of Avian Haemosporida Parasites Across A Community Of Hosts, Matthew Christopher Ikaika Medeiros

Dissertations

Parasites are heterogeneously distributed across host species, host populations, and host individuals within populations. A primary aim of infectious disease ecology seeks to uncover the factors that drive this heterogeneity. At a fundamental level, host infection is determined by exposure and susceptibility to a pathogen. My dissertation explores how evolutionary and ecological forces associated with these fundamental determinates of infection shape variation in parasite host breadth and host infection status. Here, I focus on a community of vector-borne avian Haemosporida parasites among suburban birds of Chicago, IL. These parasites exhibit strong variation in their distribution among available hosts, and provide …