Digital Commons Network^™

Home Range Size And Habitat Usage Of Hatchling And Juvenile Wood Turtles (Glyptemys Insculpta) In Iowa, Jeffrey W. Tamplin, Joshua G. Otten, Samuel W. Berg, Nadia E. Patel, Jacob B. Tipton, Justine M.R. Radunzel

Faculty Publications

The Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) is an endangered species in the state of Iowa and a species of conservation concern across their entire range. The Iowa population is characterized by high levels of adult and egg predation, displays little or no annual recruitment, and harbors an extremely low number of juveniles (7.3%). Home range and habitat usage studies of hatchling and juvenile Wood Turtles are limited to a few studies, and only one study of juveniles exists from the state of Iowa. Over a 10 yr period, we conducted a radiotelemetry study in Iowa on seven juvenile wood turtles for …

A Meta-Analysis Of Historic Drinking Water Emergency Events Reported In News Articles, Victor Yu, Haiying Wang, Weiwei Mo

Faculty Publications

This study seeks to investigate historical drinking water contamination events that reported by news media to find the key determinants of their outcomes, including the duration and economic cost, and to quantitatively describe the characteristics of past contamination events. ProQuest Global Newsstream and Regional Business News were used to identify an initial list of events and supplemented by additional search on specific information including the response actions, economic cost, and more. These events were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression modeling. Smaller community water systems were found to be more frequently impacted by contamination events. Use restrictions, except …

Novel Sequential Modeling Framework Improves Phytoplankton Biomass Predictions In Response To Multiple Environmental Stressors, Zhuyin Tong, Jiayu Guo, Yikai Liu, Lizhen Lin, Jixin Chen, Xin Liu, Bangqin Huang, Edward A. Laws, Wupeng Xiao

Faculty Publications

Understanding the impacts of multiple environmental stressors on phytoplankton biomass is crucial for predicting marine ecosystem responses under global climate change. This study employed a sequential modeling framework integrating principal component analysis, generalized additive models, and artificial neural networks to improve predictions of phytoplankton chlorophyll a concentrations in the Taiwan Strait. Analyzing a decadal dataset, we found that a 2°C rise in sea surface temperature and a 0.2 pH decline will each lead to an 11.3% reduction in chlorophyll a biomass, whereas nitrogen enrichment is expected to increase it by only 2.8%. The combined effects of these stressors will result …

Nonnative Species Richness And Dominance Reveal Differing Support For Invasion Theory At A Continental Extent, Lily M. Thompson, William K. Annis, Stephen R. Midway, Julian D. Olden, Brandon K. Peoples

Faculty Publications

Aim: Empirical tests of conceptual hypotheses describing species invasions often differ depending on the spatial scale (spatial resolution and extent of study area) at which they were conducted. Some of this disparity may arise from tradeoffs in data quality necessitating the use of different indices of community invadedness among scales. Local-scale studies typically use fine-resolution, descriptive measures of community invadedness (‘dominance’, the proportion nonnative individuals) at limited spatial extents, while macroscale studies often aggregate datasets to cover large spatial extents but use coarser spatial resolution and less descriptive indices (nonnative species richness). We investigated the consequences of using different indices …

Indirect Effects And Context Dependency In Stream Fish Invasions, William K. Annis, Lily M. Thompson, Stephen R. Midway, Julian D. Olden, Brandon K. Peoples

Faculty Publications

Aim: Invasion ecology is replete with a body of well-supported yet contradictory evidence for numerous invasion hypotheses, likely as a result of context dependency. Context dependency in invasion studies can arise in two ways: (1) apparent, when results differ between studies solely due to methodical differences, or (2) mechanistic, when results truly differ due to ecological processes. One form of apparent context dependency occurs when causally linked factors associated with invasion success (hereafter, invasion drivers) either mask or enhance each other's effect on invasion success. Mechanistic context dependency can occur when regional scale processes modify the influence of local scale …

State Divorce Laws, Reproductive Care Policies, And Pregnancy-Associated Homicide Rates, 2018-2021, Kaitlin M. Boyle, Wendy Regoeczi, Chase B. Meyer

Faculty Publications

Importance: Barriers to divorce and reproductive health care can threaten the health and safety of pregnant and recently pregnant females.

Objective: To examine state laws about divorce, reproductive health care (access to contraception, family planning services, and abortion), and pregnancy-associated homicide rates in US states over a 4-year period (2018-2021).

Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study, bivariate tests and regressions were used to analyze crude rates of pregnancy-associated homicide from the National Violent Death Reporting System in 181 state-years for calendar years 2018 to 2021, with analyses conducted on September 8, 2024.

Exposures: Access to divorce while pregnant …

Macroevolution Of The Plant–Hummingbird Pollination System, Elisa Barreto, Mannfred M.A. Boehm, Ezgi Ogutcen, Stefan Abrahamczyk, Michael Kessler, Jordi Bascompte, Agnes S. Dellinger, Carolina Bello, D. Matthias Dehling, François Duchenne, Miriam Kaehler, Laura P. Lagomarsino, Lúcia G. Lohmann, María A. Maglianesi, Hélène Morlon, Nathan Muchhala, Juan Francisco Ornelas, Mathieu Perret, Nelson R. Salinas, Stacey D. Smith, Jana C. Vamosi, Isabela G. Varassin, Catherine H. Graham

Faculty Publications

Plant–hummingbird interactions are considered a classic example of coevolution, a process in which mutually dependent species influence each other's evolution. Plants depend on hummingbirds for pollination, whereas hummingbirds rely on nectar for food. As a step towards understanding coevolution, this review focuses on the macroevolutionary consequences of plant–hummingbird interactions, a relatively underexplored area in the current literature. We synthesize prior studies, illustrating the origins and dynamics of hummingbird pollination across different angiosperm clades previously pollinated by insects (mostly bees), bats, and passerine birds. In some cases, the crown age of hummingbirds pre-dates the plants they pollinate. In other cases, plant …

Spatial Roost Networks And Resource Selection Of Female Wild Turkeys, Nicholas W. Bakner, Erin E. Ulrey, Patrick H. Wightman, Nick A. Gulotta, Bret A. Collier, Michael J. Chamberlain

Faculty Publications

Wildlife demography is influenced by behavioural decisions, with sleep being a crucial avian behaviour. Avian species use roost sites to minimize thermoregulation costs, predation risk and enhance foraging efficiency. Sleep locations are often reused, forming networks within the home range. Our study, focusing on female eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) during the reproductive season, used social network analysis to quantify both roost site selection and network structure. We identified roost networks which were composed of a small percentage of hub roost sites connecting satellite roosts. Hub roosts were characterized by greater values of betweenness (β = 0.62, s.e. = …

Complementing Model Species With Model Clades, Makenzie E. Mabry, R. Shawn Abrahams, Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz, William J. Baker, Simon Barak, Michael S. Barker, Russell L. Barrett, Aleksandra Beric, Samik Bhattacharya, Sarah B. Carey, Gavin C. Conant, John G. Conran, Maheshi Dassanayake, Patrick P. Edger, Jocelyn C. Hall, Yue Hao, Kasper P. Hendriks, Julian M. Hibberd, Graham J. King, Daniel J. Kliebenstein, Marcus A. Koch, Ilia J. Leitch, Frederic Lens, Martin A. Lysak, Alex C. Mcalvay, Michael T.W. Mckibben, Francesco Mercati, Richard C. Moore, Klaus Mummenhoff, Daniel J. Murphy, Lachezar A. Nikolov, Michael Pisias, Eric H. Roalson

Faculty Publications

Model species continue to underpin groundbreaking plant science research. At the same time, the phylogenetic resolution of the land plant tree of life continues to improve. The intersection of these 2 research paths creates a unique opportunity to further extend the usefulness of model species across larger taxonomic groups. Here we promote the utility of the Arabidopsis thaliana model species, especially the ability to connect its genetic and functional resources, to species across the entire Brassicales order. We focus on the utility of using genomics and phylogenomics to bridge the evolution and diversification of several traits across the Brassicales to …

Local Social Capital, Disaster Housing Damage, And Mental Health: Insights From Hurricane Harvey, Ethan J. Raker, Kevin T. Smiley

Faculty Publications

Community-level social capital has been theorized to shape mental health, particularly in disaster contexts, but methodological complexities hamper prior studies. Pairing zip-code-level data on social capital from Opportunity Insights with repeated cross-sectional health survey data before and after Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, we examine how local social capital moderated the mental health consequences of disaster housing damage. We first document null associations between local social capital and residents’ mental health before the disaster. Next, we fit models predicting psychological distress and poor mental health days, revealing that local levels of economic connectedness and rates of volunteering offset adverse mental …

The Influence Of Salinity And Vegetation Texture On The Ecological Roles Of Insects In Tidal Marshes In Louisiana, Benjamin G. Aker, Claudia Husseneder, Lane D. Foil

Faculty Publications

Tidal marsh insect communities are influenced by both salinity and aspects of vegetation texture (vegetation diversity, plant density, and architectural structure). These factors affect the abundances and intra- and interguild interactions of these insects and should result in broad-scale variation in the distribution and ecological functioning of tidal marsh insect communities along these gradients. However, this assumption has not been tested within Gulf Coast marshes, and the insect communities and their ecological roles are not well known. This study identifies how family-level insect biodiversity varies by salinity and which factors are most important in affecting the distribution of insect functional …

Correlations Between Educational Struggle, Toxic Sites By School District And Demographic Variables, With Geographical Information System Projections, Junu Shrestha, Raihan K. Khan, Shane Mcclintock, John Degroote, Catherine L. Zeman

Faculty Publications

This correlational study associated data on children enrolled in individualized educational plans in their K-12 schools (IEP) and an algorithm-calculated score of neurotoxins at contaminated sites located in each school district. The study also mapped and projected the correlations using Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. These data were populated in ArcMap 10.5 (a GIS software) for generating maps and data to conduct geospatial analysis. A total of 1 Superfund site and 39 CERCLA sites were identified as contaminated sites for this analysis. The majority of contaminants were heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium. The mean toxic score …

Regional Variation In The Trophic Ecology Of Wahoo (Acanthocybium Solandri) In The Western Atlantic Ocean, Brendan Gough, Alexandra Prouse, Michael A. Dance, R. J.David Wells, Jay R. Rooker

Faculty Publications

Intrinsic tracers, such as stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, are common dietary markers that accumulate in the muscle tissue of consumers and can be used to determine the dietary sources and trophic positions of consumers. The aim of this study was to assess regional variation in the trophic ecology of wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) using bulk stable isotopes. Muscle biopsies of wahoo were collected from four regions in the western Atlantic Ocean: the eastern Gulf of Mexico, western Gulf of Mexico, Northwest Atlantic Ocean, and Caribbean Sea. Muscle tissue δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values for wahoo ranged …

Lipid Correction For Carbon Stable Isotope Analysis Of Yellowfin Tuna, Michael A. Dance, Mitchell S. Lovell

Faculty Publications

Carbon stable isotopes (δ¹³C) are widely used in ecological studies to understand diet, food web dynamics, and movements of marine fishes. Still, δ¹³C is influenced by lipid content and often requires chemical extraction or mathematical correction. Here, we developed a species-specific mathematical lipid correction for white muscle tissue of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), a highly migratory finfish of considerable economic and ecological value. Lipid extraction was conducted on yellowfin tuna white muscle tissue (C:N range: 2.96–6.49), and both linear and non-linear lipid correction models for δ¹³C were fitted and assessed. Lipid extraction increased δ …

Incorporating Resilience When Assessing Pandemic Risk In The Arctic: A Case Study Of Alaska, Sweta Tiwari, Andrey Petrov, Nino Mateshvili, Michele Devlin, Nikolay Golosov, Marya Rozanova-Smith, Mark Welford, John Degroote, Tatiana Degai, Stanislav Ksenofontov

Faculty Publications

The discourse on vulnerability to COVID-19 or any other pandemic is about the susceptibility to the effects of disease outbreaks. Over time, vulnerability has been assessed through various indices calculated using a confluence of societal factors. However, categorising Arctic communities, without considering their socioeconomic, cultural and demographic uniqueness, into the high and low continuum of vulnerability using universal indicators will undoubtedly result in the underestimation of the communities' capacity to withstand and recover from pandemic exposure. By recognising vulnerability and resilience as two separate but interrelated dimensions, this study reviews the Arctic communities' ability to cope with pandemic risks. In …

Regional Variation In Feeding Patterns Of Sheepshead (Archosargus Probatocephalus) In The Northwest Gulf Of Mexico, Elsa M. Gutierrez, Jeffrey D. Plumlee, Derek G. Bolser, Brad E. Erisman, R. J.David Wells

Faculty Publications

Feeding patterns of sheepshead, Archosargus probatocephalus, in the northwest Gulf of Mexico were examined from samples collected at two locations in Texas, USA; Galveston and Port Aransas. A total of 53 sheepshead stomachs (Galveston, n = 35; Port Aransas, n = 18) had their contents analyzed along with tissue samples from the muscle and liver for a stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) because they provide a contrast between short-term (liver) and long-term (muscle) measurements. Multiple species of amphipods made up the majority of the prey items in sheepshead from Galveston (%IRI = 61.79), whereas barnacles were the primary …

Ecophysiology And Genomics Of The Brackish Water Adapted Sar11 Subclade Iiia, V. Celeste Lanclos, Anna N. Rasmussen, Conner Y. Kojima, Chuankai Cheng, Michael W. Henson, Brant C. Faircloth, Christopher A. Francis, J. Cameron Thrash

Faculty Publications

The Order Pelagibacterales (SAR11) is the most abundant group of heterotrophic bacterioplankton in global oceans and comprises multiple subclades with unique spatiotemporal distributions. Subclade IIIa is the primary SAR11 group in brackish waters and shares a common ancestor with the dominant freshwater IIIb (LD12) subclade. Despite its dominance in brackish environments, subclade IIIa lacks systematic genomic or ecological studies. Here, we combine closed genomes from new IIIa isolates, new IIIa MAGS from San Francisco Bay (SFB), and 460 highly complete publicly available SAR11 genomes for the most comprehensive pangenomic study of subclade IIIa to date. Subclade IIIa represents a taxonomic …

Unhealthy Herds And The Predator–Spreader: Understanding When Predation Increases Disease Incidence And Prevalence, Robert L. Richards, Bret D. Elderd, Meghan A. Duffy

Faculty Publications

Disease ecologists now recognize the limitation behind examining host–parasite interactions in isolation: community members—especially predators—dramatically affect host–parasite dynamics. Although the initial paradigm was that predation should reduce disease in prey populations (“healthy herds hypothesis”), researchers have realized that predators sometimes increase disease in their prey. These “predator–spreaders” are now recognized as critical to disease dynamics, but empirical research on the topic remains fragmented. In a narrow sense, a “predator–spreader” would be defined as a predator that mechanically spreads parasites via feeding. However, predators affect their prey and, subsequently, disease transmission in many other ways such as altering prey population structure, …

Metagenomics And Metatranscriptomics Reveal Broadly Distributed, Active, Novel Methanotrophs In The Gulf Of Mexico Hypoxic Zone And In The Marine Water Column, Kathryn L. Howe, Kiley W. Seitz, Lauren G. Campbell, Brett J. Baker, J. Cameron Thrash, Nancy N. Rabalais, Mary Kate Rogener, Samantha B. Joye, Olivia U. Mason

Faculty Publications

The northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM) hypoxic zone is a shallow water environment where methane, a potent greenhouse gas, fluxes from sediments to bottom water and remains trapped due to summertime stratification. When the water column is destratified, an active planktonic methanotrophic community could mitigate the efflux of methane, which accumulates to high concentrations, to the atmosphere. To investigate the possibility of such a biofilter in the nGOM hypoxic zone we performed metagenome assembly, and metagenomic and metatranscriptomic read mapping. Methane monooxygenase (pmoA) was an abundant transcript, yet few canonical methanotrophs have been reported in this environment, suggesting a role …

Ancient Pathogens Provide A Window Into Health And Well-Being, Cecil M. Lewis Jr., Mercy Y. Akinyi, Sharon Dewitte, Anne C. Stone

Faculty Publications

This perspective draws on the record of ancient pathogen genomes and microbiomes illuminating patterns of infectious disease over the course of the Holocene in order to address the following question. How did major changes in living circumstances involving the transition to and intensification of farming alter pathogens and their distributions? Answers to this question via ancient DNA research provide a rapidly expanding picture of pathogen evolution and in concert with archaeological and historical data, give a temporal and behavioral context for heath in the past that is relevant for challenges facing the world today, including the rise of novel pathogens.

Residential Segregation And County-Level Covid-19 Booster Coverage In The Deep South: Surveillance Report And Ecological Study, Chengbo Zeng, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Zhenlong Li, Xiaowen Sun, Huan Ning, Xueying Yang, Sharon Weissman, Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background: COVID-19 had a greater impact in the Deep South compared with other regions in the United States. While vaccination remains a top priority for all eligible individuals, data regarding the progress of booster coverage in the Deep South and how the coverage varies by county and age are sparse. Despite existing evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations at the individual level, there is an urgent need for evidence at the population level. Such information could highlight vulnerable communities and guide future health care policy-making and resource allocation.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate county-level COVID-19 booster coverage …

Diet And Disturbance: Seaside Sparrow Resource Use Driven By Oiling And Hurricane Isaac, Allison M. Snider, Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati, Anna A. Pérez-Umphrey, Stefan Woltmann, Philip C. Stouffer, Sabrina S. Taylor

Faculty Publications

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) disaster led to extensive oil deposition in Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, followed two years later by Hurricane Isaac. These disturbances led to changes in saltmarsh invertebrate communities, potentially affecting higher-level predators and the saltmarsh food web. Seaside Sparrows (Ammospiza maritima) are ubiquitous, year-round residents of the coastal saltmarsh affected by the DWH spill, where they consume diverse invertebrates and may be considered an indicator species for the ecosystem’s integrity. We used DNA metabarcoding to evaluate prey consumed by Seaside Sparrows to understand how sparrows responded to residual contamination from the DWH oil spill and ecosystem disturbance …

An Assessment Of Future Tidal Marsh Resilience In The San Francisco Estuary Through Modeling And Quantifiable Metrics Of Sustainability, James T. Morris, Judith Z. Drexler, Lydia J.S. Vaughn, April H. Robinson

Faculty Publications

Quantitative, broadly applicable metrics of resilience are needed to effectively manage tidal marshes into the future. Here we quantified three metrics of temporal marsh resilience: time to marsh drowning, time to marsh tipping point, and the probability of a regime shift, defined as the conditional probability of a transition to an alternative super-optimal, suboptimal, or drowned state. We used organic matter content (loss on ignition, LOI) and peat age combined with the Coastal Wetland Equilibrium Model (CWEM) to track wetland development and resilience under different sea-level rise scenarios in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California. A 100-year hindcast of …

Are Existing Modeling Tools Useful To Evaluate Outcomes In Mangrove Restoration And Rehabilitation Projects? A Minireview, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Xiaochen Zhao, Hongqing Wang, Zuo George Xue

Faculty Publications

Ecosystem modeling is a critical process for understanding complex systems at spatiotemporal scales needed to conserve, manage, and restore ecosystem services (ESs). Although mangrove wetlands are sources of ESs worth billions of dollars, there is a lack of modeling tools. This is reflected in our lack of understanding of mangroves’ functional and structural attributes. Here, we discuss the “state of the art” of mangrove models used in the planning and monitoring of R/R projects during the last 30 years. The main objectives were to characterize the most frequent modeling approach, their spatiotemporal resolution, and their current utility/application in management decisions. …

Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses In Central America: The Research And Public Health Disparity Among Socioeconomic Lines, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Marvin S. Rodriguez Aquino, Stella C.W. Self, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Tick-borne diseases including rickettsial diseases are increasing in incidence worldwide. Many rickettsial pathogens can cause disease which is commonly underdiagnosed and underreported; Rickettsia pathogens in the spotted fever group (SFGR) are thus classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. The Central American region shoulders a large proportion of the global neglected disease burden; however, little is known regarding SFGR disease here. Although development varies, four of the seven countries in this region have both the highest poverty rates and SFGR disease burdens (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua), compared to Belize, Panama, and Costa Rica. Utilizing the Human Development Index (HDI), we …

Development And Structural Organization Of Mexico’S Mangrove Monitoring System (Smmm) As A Foundation For Conservation And Restoration Initiatives: A Hierarchical Approach, María Teresa Rodríguez-Zúñiga, Carlos Troche-Souza, María Isabel Cruz-López, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy

Faculty Publications

Mangroves provide ecosystem services worth billions of dollars worldwide. Although countries with extensive mangrove areas implemented management and conservation programs since the 1980s, the global area is still decreasing. To recuperate this lost area, both restoration and rehabilitation (R/R) projects have been implemented but with limited success, especially at spatial scales needed to restore functional properties. Monitoring mangroves at different spatial scales in the long term (decades) is critical to detect potential threats and select cost-effective management criteria and performance measures to improve R/R program success. Here, we analyze the origin, development, implementation, and outcomes of a country-level mangrove monitoring …

Current Methods And Future Directions In Avian Diet Analysis, Brandon D. Hoenig, Allison M. Snider, Anna M. Forsman, Keith A. Hobson, Steven C. Latta, Eliot T. Miller, Michael J. Polito, Luke L. Powell, Samantha L. Rogers, Thomas W. Sherry, David P.L. Toews, Andreanna J. Welch, Sabrina S. Taylor, Brady A. Porter

Faculty Publications

Identifying the composition of avian diets is a critical step in characterizing the roles of birds within ecosystems. However, because birds are a diverse taxonomic group with equally diverse dietary habits, gaining an accurate and thorough understanding of avian diet can be difficult. In addition to overcoming the inherent difficulties of studying birds, the field is advancing rapidly, and researchers are challenged with a myriad of methods to study avian diet, a task that has only become more difficult with the introduction of laboratory techniques to dietary studies. Because methodology drives inference, it is important that researchers are aware of …

Chronic Background Radiation Correlates With Sperm Swimming Endurance In Bank Voles From Chernobyl, Kati Kivisaari, Sara Calhim, Zbyszek Boratyríski, Timothy Mousseau, Anders P. Møller, Tapio Mappes

Faculty Publications

Sperm quantity and quality are key features explaining intra- and interspecific variation in male reproductive success. Spermatogenesis is sensitive to ionizing radiation and laboratory studies investigating acute effects of ionizing radiation have indeed found negative effects of radiation on sperm quantity and quality. In nature, levels of natural background radiation vary dramatically, and chronic effects of low-level background radiation exposure on spermatogenesis are poorly understood. The Chernobyl region offers a unique research opportunity for investigating effects of chronic low-level ionizing radiation on reproductive properties of wild organisms. We captured male bank voles (Myodes glareolus) from 24 locations in the Chernobyl …

Disparities In Demand For Covid-19 Hospital Care In The United States: Insights From A Longitudinal Hierarchical Study, Wolfgang Messner

Faculty Publications

Background and aims

This study examined disparities in hospitalization for COVID-19 within the U.S. by racial and ethnic groups, health insurance status, and social support structure.

Methods

Using publicly available ecological case and contextual data from July 2020 to April 2021, a longitudinal hierarchical model for the 51 U.S. states was constructed.

Results

Racial/ethnic disparities were observed, such as that hospitalization rates were higher in states with a higher percentage of Black (β = .002, P = .009) and American Indian or Alaska Native persons (β = .003, P = .03). Conversely, lack of health insurance was related …

A Southwestern United States Pilot Investigation Of Triatomine–Mite Prevalence, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Hanna Waltz, Mary K. Lynn, Stephen A. Klotz, Justin O. Schmidt, Alvaro Romero, Marvin Stanley Rodriguez Aquino, Jose Ricardo Palacios Valladares, Pamela Michelle Cornejo Rivas, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

An estimated 70 million persons in the Western Hemisphere are living at risk for Chagas disease, a parasitic infection transmitted to humans by over 156 different competent triatomine insect vector species. Prior Pan American Health Organization insecticide campaigns throughout Latin America in the 1990s and 2000s demonstrated that domestic insecticide spraying had temporary effects, which resulted in the re-establishment of triatomine species within a few years. Serendipitously, our team found ectoparasitic mites parasitizing triatomines collected from the field in multiple locations in the southwestern United States, where human–triatomine interaction was high but human parasite infection remains low. Upon further investigation …