Our work is diverse, but tends to fall into two broad categories:
Interactions between wildlife diseases, urbanization, and the global climate crisis has many repercussions, such as outbreaks of zoonotic diseases including SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza, and numerous tick-borne zoonotic diseases. Our lab is addressing these issues head-on by monitoring specific wildlife and tick species for disease prevalence, and modeling the disease matrix across species and landscapes. Our work ultimately aims to increase the quality of life for both wild and domestic animals and humans, while enhancing environmental health and integrity across multiple environmental scales through a "One Health" lens.
A sampling of our work in this field includes:
Tick-Borne Disease Host Ecology in Suburban and Urban Environments
Since 2016, the ASWEL Lab has been conducting tick- sampling across Howard and Montgomery Counties (MD) to assess tick population density and infection status, to determine the role of white-tailed deer and small mammals in spreading ticks into residential areas, and to evaluate the efficacy of deer and rodent management on lowering tick-borne disease burden.
Our recent publications on this topic include: Roden-Reynolds, et al. 2022; Poh, et al. 2022; Milholland et al. 2021a; Milholland, et al. 2021b; Roden-Reynolds, et al. 2020
Avian Influenza at the Wild Bird-Domestic Poultry Interface
In conjunction with the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, the ASWEL Lab monitors and analyzes the transmission of Avian Influenza between wild waterfowl and domestic poultry. Major components of this research have included population assessments of dabbling ducks across the continental United States, modeling known spillover events from waterfowl to poultry, and estimating changing risk of HPAI.
Our recent publications on this topic include: Kent, et al. 2023; Humphreys, et al. 2021; Humpreys, et al. 2020
Urban sprawl has and continues to drastically change the landscape. Such development has reduced the amount of habitat available to wildlife even in more traditionally rural areas. Unfortunately for wildlife, anthropogenic development has resulted in a highly fragmented network of greenspaces, leaving few corridors for long-range movements for many species. The ASWEL Lab has been addressing this issue by studying wildlife movement dynamics and habitat associations, and assessing habitat connectivity across large spatial scales. We have studied box turtle movements across DC, black bear habitat and corridors across Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and white-tailed deer and turkey movements through suburban and urban spaces. We are excited to announce a black bear movement study in Maryland (2024-2028).
Recent publications include: Poor, et al. 2020; Marban, et al. 2019; Pack, et al. 2016; Clark, et al. 2015
We’re proud of our work, and so is our department! That’s why we were awarded the 2021-2022 Environmental Science and Technology Excellence in Research Award! Of course, we couldn’t have done this work alone. In addition to our many wonderful postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate research assistants, we thank our committed collaborators and funders:
