Trinity College Dublin, Ecology and Evolution
This post was first published on the Cambridge Core blog, based on the original paper by Williams et al. It was selected as Parasitology‘s paper of the month for September 2019, and so is freely available for the month. The impact of parasites can often reach beyond their individual hosts, shaping populations and communities in …
*by parasites here I am referring to all kinds of infectious disease causing agents including bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, helminths and arthropods. Why do we care about primate parasites? Many of the most devastating infectious diseases in humans have origins in wildlife. For example, the global AIDS pandemic originated through human contact with wild African …
Continue reading “Sampling gaps in our understanding of primate parasites”
It’s been three years since we’ve had transition year students pass through the door of the Zoology building to take part in a week long work experience programme. A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible and to Prof. Nicola Marples for organising another successful ‘Zoology TY Week’. The Zoology TY Week is …
As we welcome in the New Year, we want to take the time to bid farewell to Prof. Celia Holland who retired in October 2022 from the Zoology Department. I believe I speak for everyone in Zoology and Trinity who’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Celia, that she will be a huge loss to …
The start of term is here and with it you may be back from field work and starting to commute to campus again, or perhaps you are looking for an escape from those busy term-time work days, or maybe you are already a veteran podcast listener? Either way we’ve got you covered. We asked our …
Continue reading “Fancy a listen? The podcasts our researchers are listening to: Part 1”
The Invasive Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus): A Model System for Studying Parasites and Ecoimmunology during a Biological Invasion, McManus et al. Animals 2021. Read it here. Emerging infectious diseases, biological invasions & rodents Over the past century, there has been an increase in Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs), leading to outbreaks in diseases of zoonotic origin, …
The authors Irene Bottero is a 3rd year PhD student in Botany (Trinity College Dublin). She is part of PoshBee project (https://poshbee.eu/) and in her thesis she is evaluating the impact of different habitat types on pollinators, specifically, honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, and butterflies. Elena Zioga is a 3rd year PhD student in Botany …
Continue reading “Celebrating bees on World Bee Day – Getting to know them better!”
There are >20,000 different species of bee worldwide. They are a diverse group, encompassing the tiny 2mm long Perdita minima and the massive 38mm long Megachile pluto. They all* have one thing in common: their larvae feed on pollen from flowers. The protein in the pollen is necessary for larval growth and development, and thus for producing healthy …
Invasive freshwater fish (Leuciscus leuciscus) acts as a sink for a parasite of native brown trout Salmo trutta (2020) Tierney et al. Biological Invasions. Read it here. Adapted from blog published at Ecology for the Masses Alien invasions and parasite infection From house cats to cane toads, invasive species are one of the biggest threats …
Continue reading “Disease dynamics and the impact of incompetent invaders”
Every year, contributors to the blog look back on their favourite papers of the previous year and tell us what it was about these publications that stuck in their mind so much. With a range of different topics and reasons, it’s always great to see what each of us thinks makes for a great paper! …