February 4, 2022
Understanding pathogen transmission in a solitary, secretive carnivore (Puma concolor)
Dr. Meggan Craft
Associate Professor, UMN Dept of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Abstract
In this era of the Anthropocene, human impacts on the environment affect wildlife and wildlife disease. How will we manage disease in the face of anthropogenic changes? To understand how to manage disease threats, is it important to understand the basic process of transmission. For example, what conditions promote transmission from an infected to a susceptible individual? And how might pathogen transmission be shaped in human-dominated landscapes? To investigate these questions, I will focus on puma (Puma concolor) and highlight how we have leveraged serology, contact networks and simulation modeling, and pathogen genomics to investigate these questions in a solitary, secretive carnivore.
Biosketch
Dr. Meggan Craft is an infectious disease ecologist and associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. After completing her undergraduate degree in Biology from Brown University, she took some ‘time off’ in Africa before applying to medical or veterinary school. She fell in love with East Africa’s wildlife, people, and landscapes and ended up spending 6 years in East Africa where she started a safari company and studied lions. In her late 20’s, she began her PhD at the University of Minnesota and focused on disease dynamics in African Lions. She completed postdocs and fellowships at the University of Texas (Austin), the University of Glasgow (Scotland), and University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment before starting her UMN faculty position in 2011. She currently leads a lab aiming to understand infectious disease dynamics in animal (and human) populations.