| I
received my
bachelor's degree in 2004 from the University
of North Carolina, Asheville. After working for a year as a research
assistant for Sonia
Altizer at Emory
University, I came to Colorado
State University (CSU) to pursue a PhD. I am currently a
graduate student in the NSF-funded IGERT Program
for Interdisciplinary Mathematics, Ecology, and Statistics (PRIMES) and
the Graduate
Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE).
I am broadly interested in wildlife disease
ecology* as it relates to biological conservation. A few of the topics I
find particularly fascinating include anthropogenic causes of pathogen
spread, synergistic effects of pollutants and pathogens, parasite
regulation of host populations, the the evolutionary dynamics of
host-parasite relationships.
As
an undergraduate I researched transmission of Ranavirus in wood frogs at
Tulula Wetland
in the mountains of North Carolina. I am currently investigating
how the pathogen persists between outbreaks.
My dissertation research is focused
on parasite community dynamics and the genetics of disease resistance in black-tailed prairie
dogs on the Short Grass Steppe
Long Term Ecological Research Site in eastern Colorado.
*
What is disease ecology? Click here to find out!
Publications:
Miller-Rushing,
A. J., E.
M. Harp, and
J.
F.
Dukes
(2007)
Fresh perspectives on timeless questions. Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment. 5:334-335
Petranka,
J. W., E.
M. Harp, C.
T. Holbrook, and J. A. Hamel (2007)
Long-term persistence of amphibian populations in a restored wetland
complex. Biological
Conservation. 138:371-380
Harp,
E. M.,
and J. W. Petranka (2006)
Ranavirus
in wood frogs (Rana
sylvatica):
potential sources of transmission within and between ponds.
Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 42:307-318.
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