Achievement

Trainees Flo Gardipee, Tammi Johnson, Marty Kardos, Ania Majewska, and Carin Williams are collaborating on a study and manuscript titled "Do host social systems drive the evolution of parasite transmission strategies?" The trainees are testing the hypothesis that ungulates with small group sizes have proportionately more parasites that utilize vertical transmission, sexual transmission, or vector-borne transmission than do ungulates with large group sizes. Results of the study will yield new insight into the complex relationship between host group size and strategies among specialist parasites. The trainees collaborating on this paper include representatives from all three cohorts that have been accepted into M-EID to date demonstrating collaboration and cohesiveness both within and between cohorts.