Dr. Anna-Liisa Laine - The Importance of Host Diversity for Disease

Pathogens are prevalent across all ecosystems and exert negative effects on their hosts. Hence, there is a pressing need to understand risks of infection and how these evolve. Traditionally, host-pathogen interactions have been largely viewed within the 'one host-one parasite' framework although in reality the same host may be attacked by a myriad of pathogenic microbes. However, remarkably little is known about the factors that determine which pathogens co-occur within the same host individual and how they interact. The relative roles of pathogen-pathogen interactions, host attributes and the environment have been notoriously difficult to tease apart. In my talk I will consider how both intra- and interspecific host diversity affect disease dynamics and the assembly of complex pathogen communities.