News
May 16, 2021
It was great to celebrate in person the graduation of Hector Zumbado-Ulate and Meredith Scherer! Congratulations to you both!
Back: Cat, Emily, Spencer
Front: Paradyse, Meredith, Hector
April 2, 2021
Hector successfully defended his Ph.D. research today! Congratulations to the newly minted Dr. Zumbado-Ulate!
December 14, 2020
Our last lab meeting of the semester was today. Here's our lab photo for 2020!
October 13, 2020
We spent a beautiful day today working hard to remove the in-ground mesocosms from Martell. (supervised by Kira, the dog)
September 17, 2020
Congratulations to Spencer for being awarded the Graduate Teaching Award! Photo = Spencer training lab undergrads in methods of amphibian sampling.
August 24, 2020
Fall semester has begun and we have one new undergraduate joining the lab. Welcome Maggie!
May 25, 2020
We have two new undergraduate students joining us this summer. Lulu Davis is a Purdue student who will be joining us through the Summer Stays program. Fabiola Fontan is a student at the University of Puerto Rico Humacao, who is working remotely and supported through an NSF REU. Welcome to the lab Lulu and Fabiola!
March 31, 2020
Congratulations to Paradyse on being awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Paradyse will be studying the effects of abiotic stressors on disease susceptibility in amphibians.
Februrary 19, 2020
Kacie made the most amazing cookies for lab meeting today!
January 13, 2019
Spring semester has begun and we have one new undergraduate joining the lab. Welcome Allison!
December 13, 2019
Congratulations to our three graduating seniors, Brittany, Kiersten and Marin! Best of luck with everything in your future - we will miss you!
Left to right: Brittany, Kiersten, Cat, Marin
November 18, 2019
Brittany presented the results of her honors thesis at Purdue's undergraduate research conference today. Her poster was titled "Effects of salinity on invasion in freshwater communities."
September 4, 2019
Kacie has been leading efforts to collect Daphnia for our upcoming experiments on evolutionary rescue. There have been some beautiful (and not so beautiful) days!
August 19, 2019
Fall semester has started and we have several new people. First, Paradyse Blackwood is joining us as a new Ph.D. student. Paradyse received a B.S. from Binghamton University and is interested in studying the interactive effects of abiotic stressors on disease susceptibility in amphibians. Welcome to the lab Paradyse!
We also have four (!) new undergraduates joining the lab. Welcome to Emily, Meredith, Diego, and Maddie!
August 16, 2019
Today's the last day of the Ecological Society of America meeting where Cat, Hector, Spencer, Stephanie, Kiersten and Mariah all presented. We had a great time!
Left to right: Spencer, Kiersten, Mariah, Hector, Cat
August 13, 2019
Hector's latest paper was on the cover of Diversity. You can see the image here.
June 14, 2019
Today we said goodbye to Isa Adarve who has been an intern in our lab for the last six months. She will be missed!
Left to right: Marin, Isa, Kacie, Stephanie, Spencer, Emily, Mariah
May 6, 2019
Hector presented the results of his most recent paper at the Interdisciplinary Programs reception today. You can find more about his work here.
May 3, 2019
Congratulations to our two seniors who are graduating this spring, David Prather and Mariah Burgmeier. We wish you the best of luck with everything in your future!
April 25, 2019
We finally got an updated lab photo!
April 24, 2019
Hector's latest paper was just published in Ecology and Evolution. He found that Bd infection is common in tropical lowland ecosystems in Costa Rica. Check it out here.
April 23, 2019
Gray is apparently the color of the day!
Left to right: Kiersten, Isa, David, Kacie, Spencer
April 9, 2019
We are very proud of the undergraduates in our lab who presented at the Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference!
Left to right: Brittany, Marin, Isa, Mariah, and David (misssing: Kiersten)
April 4, 2019
Congratulations to Spencer on being awarded the A.A. Lindsey Graduate Fellowship in Ecology. Spencer will be using the funds to support his field sampling at the Ross Reserve this winter.
March 1, 2019
Congratulations to Brittany for being awarded a research grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research! Brittany will be using the funds to study the effects of salinity on species invasions.
January 23, 2019
Isabel Adarve, a visiting student from EAFIT University in Colombia, just arrived and will be working in the lab through June. Isa will be studying the effects of leaf litter on Bd growth. Welcome to the lab Isa!
January 14, 2019
Abbie's first, first-authored paper just came out in Freshwater Biology! She looked at the effects of elevated salinity on host-pathogen interactions in Daphnia. Check it out here.
November 28, 2018
Laura's project investigating the interactive effects of salinity and duckweed on Daphnia is looking good!
October 24, 2018
Everyone worked hard to dig the artificial ponds today! We'll be looking at establishment of amphibians and their parasites in these containers through time.
September 19, 2018
Kacie did a great job setting up the mesocosm experiment at the Ross Reserve today. She is studying the effects of salinity on freshwater communities.
August 20, 2018
We've had a busy summer! Here are some photos from our summer field sampling and experiments:
August 2, 2018
Mariah did a great job presenting the results of her summer research at the SURF symposium today. Her talk was titled "Effect of salts on the amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochhytrium dendrobatidis."
July 23, 2018
Congratulations to Hector on being awarded a Yeunkyung Woo Achieve Excellence Travel Award! Hector will be using the award to travel to the Amphibian Disease annual meeting in Arizona this October. There, he will present the results of his research on disease dynamics of two critically endangered Costa Rican frogs.
May 14, 2018
Summer has started and we have three new undergraduates joining the lab. Jeannine and Mariah will be studying Bd dynamics in Indiana while Kiersten will be travelling to Costa Rica to study endangered frog populations. Welcome to the lab!
May 9, 2018
We have a new technician joining the lab, Kacie Jonasen, who comes to us from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Welcome to the lab Kacie!
May 4, 2018
Congratulations to our graduating seniors: Juliana Ilmain, Mackenzie Chapman, and Prasanna Janakiraman! Juliana will begin graduate school at NYU this fall while both Mackenzie and Prasanna will continue their education at Purdue. Best of luck to all of you!
April 10, 2018
Juliana, Mackenzie, and David presented the results from their honors theses at the Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference.
March 24, 2018
Spencer and Marin presented the results of their research at the Indiana Academy of Sciences this weekend.
Marin presenting her poster titled "Examining differences in anuran communities between man-made and natural wetlands in central Indiana"
Spencer giving his talk titled "Examining the fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in anurans during winter in Indiana"
March 3, 2018
Congratulations to Laura on winning the gold medal in the Animal Sciences category of the Lafayette Regional Science and Engineering Fair for her project titled "The effect of salinity and common hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) on Daphnia presence."
February 14, 2018
Hector is spending this semester surveying amphibians in Costa Rica. Here are some photos from his trip:
Filtering water to detect the presence of B. dendrobatidis from stream samples.
A critically endangered lowland robber frog.
A critically endangered Golfito robber frog.
Collecting environmental data.
Swabbing frogs to detect B. dendrobatidis infection.
February 5, 2018
Our new lab t-shirts arrived! Thanks to Grace Sanabria for the awesome design!
December 2, 2017
Photo from our end-of-semester lab party:
Top row (left to right): Spencer, Dr. Searle, Hector, Mackenzie, Prasanna, Juliana. Bottom row: Abbie, Marin, Brittany, Maggie. (Missing: David)
November 8, 2017
Congratulations to Spencer on receiving an Indiana Academy of Sciences grant! Spencer’s project is titled: “Interactions of amphibian overwintering strategies and infection of the fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Indiana amphibians.”
August 21, 2017
Fall semester has begun and we have two new undergraduates and one high school student joining the lab. Welcome to the lab, Laura, Brittany and Prasanna!
July 28, 2017
Congratulations to Liz on completing her summer REU project. Liz presented a talk and poster titled "Comparison of frog call characteristics between natural and man-made habitats."
July 24, 2017
This week, Hector is attending the Latin American Congress of Herpetology in Quito, Ecuador. He is giving a talk titled "Rediscovery and monitoring of two critically endangered frogs in environmental refuges from chytridiomycosis."
July 5, 2017
Congratulations and good luck to Baylie Hochstedler! Baylie recently completed her undergraduate honors thesis and graduated from Purdue with a degree in Biological Sciences. She will be starting a master’s program in Infectious Disease and Immunology at Loyola University this fall. Good luck Baylie!
May 22, 2017
We have two new undergraduates joining us this summer. Liz Rosario is from the University of Puerto Rico and is funded through the NIH MARC program. Marin Bray is a Purdue student funded through the Summer Stays program. Both Liz and Marin will be working with Spencer to study the effects of habitat restoration on the health and abundance of amphibians in Tippecanoe County. Welcome to the lab, Liz and Marin!
May 8, 2017
It was a beautiful day to kick off the start of the summer. Baylie and Abbie went to Fairfields lakes to collect water for upcoming experiments.
May 6, 2017
Spencer partnered with NICHES Land Trust to organize a Bioblitz at the Weiler-Leopold Nature Preserve.
April 25, 2017
Congratulations to Baylie on earning a McAtee award! The McAtee fund was originally established by Mary Frances McAtee to provide Purdue undergraduates with research experience in ecology. Baylie will be using her award to fund her research in the lab this summer.
April 11, 2017
Undergraduate students from around Purdue presented the results of their research at the Undergraduate Research and Poster Symposium. Baylie, Juliana and Mackenzie all did an excellent job presenting their posters!
Juliana presenting her poster titled "The effects of food availability and disease on invasibility of a zooplankton population."
Mackenzie presenting her poster titled "Comparing feeding rates of two species of freshwater zooplankton."
Baylie presenting her poster titled "The effects of resources and parasitism on competition between a native and invasive zooplankton."
February 21, 2017
Congratulations to Hector on receiving a College of Science International Travel Grant and an Andrews Environmental Travel Grant! Hector will be using his CoS award to travel to the Latin American Congress of Herpetology in Ecuador this June and his Andrews grant to conduct field work in Costa Rica this summer.
February 8, 2017
Spencer has been braving the cold weather to swab amphibians for Bd at the Ross Reserve. He is investigating the overwintering strategies of Bd in frog hosts.
November 28, 2016
Spencer led today's lab meeting demonstrating how to preserve amphibans for collections:
September 20, 2016
Click here to see the press release for our new article, "Population density, not host competence, drives patterns of disease in an invaded community" in The American Naturalist.
August 22, 2016
Fall classes have begun and we have one new undergraduate joining our lab. Welcome to the lab, Juliana!
August 12, 2016
Hector has returned from his summer in Costa Rica. Here are some photos from his trip:
August 7, 2016
Dr. Searle traveled to the Ecological Society of America conference in Fort Lauderdale to present some of our recent work modeling amphibian evolution in response to Bd.
July 11, 2016
Abbie has been working hard to clean up the mesocosms at the Ross Reserve. She recently set up a pilot study to see how Daphnia populations fluctuate in the mesocosms throughout the season.
June 14, 2016
Hector has been busy swabbing frogs in Costa Rica. The rainy season has made field work difficult, but he's still found some cool species!
June 13, 2016
Spencer Siddons has joined the lab as a Ph.D. student. Spencer recently earned his master’s degree from the University of South Dakota and is broadly interested in amphibian ecology, disease dynamics, and conservation. Welcome to the lab, Spencer!
May 16, 2016
Hector has arrived in Costa Rica to start his summer field work. He will be swabbing amphibians to test for the presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in many locations throughout the country.
April 12, 2016
Maggie and Baylie present the results of their independent projects at the Undergraduate Research and Poster Symposium. Maggie presented the final results of her honors thesis studying the effects of food availability on competition and infection in two species of Daphnia. Baylie presented the beginning of her honors work investigating the effects of predators on disease susceptibility.
January 11, 2016
Spring semester has begun and we have two new undergraduates joining us. Welcome to the lab, Baylie and David!
December 8, 2015
Freshman biology students present the results of their group projects from the course, “Year 1 Biology Lab: Disease Ecology” taught by Dr. Searle. The students learned how to design and conduct their own ecological experiments and present their results in a poster session. Mackenzie did a great job as the undergraduate teaching assistant for this course.
August 24, 2015
Hector Zumbado-Ulate has joined the lab as a Ph.D. student. Hector has a master’s degree from the University of Costa Rica and is interested in studying parasite-mediated competition in amphibians. Welcome to the lab, Hector!
June, 2015
Abbie has been busy sorting through soil samples to find D. pulex ephippia to hatch.
April 14, 2015
Maggie Wigren presented the results of the first half of her honor's thesis. She studied the effects of food availability on pathogen spore production in D. dentifera. She will be continuing this work throughout the next year.
April 14, 2015
Abbie, Kaitlin, and Dr. Searle took a trip to Fairfields Lakes to collect water and sample for Daphnia.
March 16, 2015
Abigail Merrick has joined the lab as a full-time technician. Abbie recently finished her bachelor's degree in agronomy from Purdue University. Welcome to the lab, Abbie!
February, 2015
Everyone has been very busy in the lab lately. Kaitlin and Maggie are leading their first independent projects while Abby and Mackenzie are helping Dr. Searle develop a new lab course in disease ecology.
January 12, 2015
Spring classes have begun and we have three new undergraduates joining us. Welcome to the lab Maggie, Mackenzie and Abby!
August 25, 2014
Fall classes have begun at Purdue. One brave undergraduate (Kaitlin O'Leary) will be helping Dr. Searle set up the lab this semester. We have a lot of boxes to unpack!
