Catherine Searle

Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees

Current Research Interests:

Research in the Searle lab investigates the ecology of infectious diseases in freshwater systems. We are particularly interested in how changes to the abiotic and biotic environment affect disease risk in individuals, populations, and communities. To understand these processes, we use a combination of field surveys, experiments (lab and mesocosm) and modeling. Our primary hosts systems are freshwater zooplankton (Daphnia) and amphibians (with a focus on chytridiomycosis). These complementary systems allow us to investigate a wide range of ecological questions and mechanisms.

Selected Publications:

Merrick, A.M. C.L. Searle. (2019). Combined effects of salinity and infectious disease on Daphnia dentifera at multiple scales. Freshwater Biology 64:601-607.

Zumbado-Ulate, H., K.N. Nelson, A. Garcia-Rodriguez, G. Chaves, E. Arias, F. Bolanos, S.M. Whitfield, C.L. Searle. (2019). Endemic infection of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Costa Rica: implications for amphibian conservation at regional and species level. Diversity 11:129.

Searle, C.L., B.R. Hochstedler, A.M. Merrick, J.K. Ilmain, M.A. Wigren. (2018). High resources and infectious disease facilitate invasion by an aquatic zooplankton. Oecologia 188:571-581.

Christie, M.R., C.L. Searle (2018). Evolutionary rescue in a host-pathogen system results in coexistence not clearance. Evolutionary Applications 11:681-693.

Searle, C.L., M.H. Cortez, K.K. Hunsberger, D.C. Grippi, I.A. Oleksy, C.L. Shaw, S.B. de la Serna, C.L. Lash, K.L. Dhir, M.A. Duffy (2016). Population density, not host competence, drives patterns of disease in an invaded community. The American Naturalist 188:554-556.

Searle, C.L., J.H. Ochs, C.E. Cáceres, S.L. Chiang, N.M. Gerardo, S.R. Hall, M.A. Duffy (2015). Plasticity, not genetic variation, drives infection success of a fungal parasite. Parasitology 142: 839-848.

Searle, C.L., L.M. Biga, J.W. Spatafora, A.R. Blaustein (2011). A dilution effect in the emerging amphibian pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108: 16322-16326.