Clay Cressler
Assistant Professor
ccressler2@unl.edu
Interested in disease ecology and evolution, consumer-resource interactions, life history evolution, feedbacks between individual-level and population-level processes as a central challenge in biology, and connecting theory and data to test biological hypotheses.
Assistant Professor
ccressler2@unl.edu
Interested in disease ecology and evolution, consumer-resource interactions, life history evolution, feedbacks between individual-level and population-level processes as a central challenge in biology, and connecting theory and data to test biological hypotheses.
Jessica Hite
PoE Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Homepage
Combines experiments, field surveys, and theory to understand the mechanisms linking parasites, individual-level traits, and population-level changes. Excited about answering questions like: When, where, and how does including size and resource-dependent traits yield novel insight into classical theory? Does host population stability influence parasite evolution and vice versa? Does resource-dependent transmission influence the evolution of virulence? How do links between parasites and host ontogeny influence the stability of host populations? How do parasites influence host allocation to sex in hosts that are facultative parthenogens and what are the consequences for sexually vs. asexually produced offspring?
How does host-genotypic diversity influence host-parasite-microbe interactions?
PoE Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Homepage
Combines experiments, field surveys, and theory to understand the mechanisms linking parasites, individual-level traits, and population-level changes. Excited about answering questions like: When, where, and how does including size and resource-dependent traits yield novel insight into classical theory? Does host population stability influence parasite evolution and vice versa? Does resource-dependent transmission influence the evolution of virulence? How do links between parasites and host ontogeny influence the stability of host populations? How do parasites influence host allocation to sex in hosts that are facultative parthenogens and what are the consequences for sexually vs. asexually produced offspring?
How does host-genotypic diversity influence host-parasite-microbe interactions?
Reilly Cooper
Grad student
Homepage
Working on understanding the Daphnia microbiota, identifying the key species within the microbiota, mapping their functions, linking function to host fitness, and tracking how they are transmitted across generations.
Grad student
Homepage
Working on understanding the Daphnia microbiota, identifying the key species within the microbiota, mapping their functions, linking function to host fitness, and tracking how they are transmitted across generations.
Alaina Pfenning
Grad student
Studying the influence of circadian rhythm on Daphnia life history, infection outcomes, and ecological dynamics.
Grad student
Studying the influence of circadian rhythm on Daphnia life history, infection outcomes, and ecological dynamics.
Interested in joining the lab?
Graduate Students
The Cressler lab at the University of Nebraska is recruiting graduate students for Fall 2017. Our lab studies the ecology and evolution of infectious disease using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. If you are interested in joining the lab, you will have the opportunity to develop a research program that is aligned with your own interests and expertise, tapping into the great set of resources available here at UNL to develop into dynamic, integrative scientists. If that sounds like something that interests you, drop me a line at ccressler2@unl.edu or @ClayCressler.
Current research in the lab uses the Daphnia-Pasteuria host-parasite system to study a number of related questions, including:
We also study within-host and between-host infection processes by developing novel mathematical models. Of particular interest are questions relating to the interaction between host resources, the immune response, and parasites, such as:
If your interests lie outside the broad area of disease ecology and evolution, I am interested in hearing from you. Ongoing research projects in the lab touch on population ecology, life history evolution, consumer-resource interactions, and phylogenetic comparative methods, to name a few.
The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska has a large, collaborative group of faculty and grad students working in ecology, evolution, and behavior (see the faculty listing). There are also a number of faculty in the math department that work in the area of mathematical biology (Drs. Deng, Jin, Ledder, and Rebarber).
Further information about the application process, the department, the University, and life in Lincoln can be found here.
The Cressler lab at the University of Nebraska is recruiting graduate students for Fall 2017. Our lab studies the ecology and evolution of infectious disease using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. If you are interested in joining the lab, you will have the opportunity to develop a research program that is aligned with your own interests and expertise, tapping into the great set of resources available here at UNL to develop into dynamic, integrative scientists. If that sounds like something that interests you, drop me a line at ccressler2@unl.edu or @ClayCressler.
Current research in the lab uses the Daphnia-Pasteuria host-parasite system to study a number of related questions, including:
- What are the ecological consequences of host manipulation by parasites?
- How do ecological factors like host diet and temperature influence the evolution of parasite virulence?
- What is the role of the host microbiome in mediating host-parasite specificity?
We also study within-host and between-host infection processes by developing novel mathematical models. Of particular interest are questions relating to the interaction between host resources, the immune response, and parasites, such as:
- How does host resource availability influence whether the immune response is directed towards parasite killing (“resistance”) versus damage limitation (“tolerance”)?
- Are between-host dynamics different when parasites are limited more by within-host resource availability than by the immune system?
- When does the interaction between within-host processes (e.g., the immune response) and between-host processes (e.g., transmission) give rise to self-reinforcing feedbacks, such as the “negative spiral” between malnutrition and infection?
If your interests lie outside the broad area of disease ecology and evolution, I am interested in hearing from you. Ongoing research projects in the lab touch on population ecology, life history evolution, consumer-resource interactions, and phylogenetic comparative methods, to name a few.
The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska has a large, collaborative group of faculty and grad students working in ecology, evolution, and behavior (see the faculty listing). There are also a number of faculty in the math department that work in the area of mathematical biology (Drs. Deng, Jin, Ledder, and Rebarber).
Further information about the application process, the department, the University, and life in Lincoln can be found here.
