Venesky is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology at Allegheny College, Meadville, PA. His research addresses questions about the ecology of infectious diseases
and has been studying amphibians and their parasites for almost a decade.
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The
river at Picinguaba Beach, SE Brazil, a collecting site for a current project
on feeding biomechanics in tadpoles with colleagues from Brazil and Canada
(photo credit: M. Venesky)
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For this talk, Venesky will focus on what his
research group has learned from their work on the Neotropics, with a focus on
Panamanian frogs and aquatic ecosystems.
Infectious diseases of humans and wildlife are increasing at an
unprecedented rate. Amphibians, in particular, have experienced an unrivaled
loss of biodiversity with approximately one-third of species threatened with
extinction. Although several factors contribute to amphibian declines, many
declines and extinctions are linked to the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (“Bd”). The first Bd epidemic was
documented in Latin America in 1998 and it resulted in the crash of the entire
Panamanian amphibian community. Twenty five years later, Bd is still prevalent
and poses challenges to amphibian conservation efforts in Latin America.
Venesky will discuss
some of the outstanding research topics in this host-pathogen system as they
relate to climate change, biodiversity, and acquired immunity. He will
synthesize how answering these questions might be useful for managing Bd as well
as other pathogenic fungi that have only recently been discovered.
Dr. Matt Venesky and Brazilian collaborator, Bokermannohyla hylax (photo credit: M. Venesky)
Venesky is a Pennsylvania native. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of
Memphis in 2011 and spent 2 ½ years at The University of South Florida as a
Postdoctoral Research Associate. He is now an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Biology at Allegheny College in PA. His research has been
supported by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science
Foundation and he has published over 20 articles on amphibian biology/ecology,
including recent articles in Nature Climate Change and Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.
This year’s Environmental Lecture Series explores “Environmental
and Human Health in Latin America,” with perspectives from experts in human
ecology, policy, and scientific study related to specific environmental issues.
