Sonia Altizer

Last updated
Sonia Altizer
NationalityAmerican
Scientific career
Fields Ecology, Environment
Institutions University of Georgia, Odum School of Ecology

Sonia M. Altizer (born 1970) is the Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Ecology in the University of Georgia, Odum School of Ecology. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Altizer was born as the daughter of Jim and Chris Altizer of Watkinsville, Georgia. [2] She grew up in York, Pennsylvania. Her passion for biology and the natural world began when she received a gift of a microscope and a grow-your-own-butterflies kit on her twelfth birthday. [3]

Education

Altizer received a B.S. from Duke University in 1992 and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1998. She also did a postdoctoral work at Princeton University and Cornell University. [1]

Career

For 20 years since a graduate student of the University of Minnesota, Altizer traveled the world to study monarch butterfly migration, ecology, and interactions with a protozoan parasite. She has researched how seasonal migration of these butterflies affects parasite transmission, and also developed collaborative databases of mammalian infectious diseases, on host behavior, ecology, and life history interact with global-scale patterns of parasitism. She also focused her research on songbird-pathogen dynamics, including studies of house finch conjunctivitis, West Nile virus, and salmonellosis. Altizer has published several publications and she recently co-edited a book that would be published in 2015, titled Monarchs in a Changing World: Biology and Conservation of an Iconic Insect. She also and participated in high-level task forces dedicated to monarch butterfly conservation. A citizen science project called Monarch Health is run by her students at University of Georgia, which is now the eighth year. There are hundreds of volunteers across North America in sampling wild monarchs for a debilitating disease. [3]

Altizer held a number of administrative positions in the Odum School of Ecology, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (2012-2017), Academic Coordinator (2017-2019), Promotion and Tenure Chair (2020), and Associate Dean for Research and Operations (2020-2021). Most recently, she served as Interim Dean for the Odum School (2021-2023).

Research areas

Altizer's research interests are ecology of infectious diseases in natural populations, evolution of host resistance and parasite virulence, insect ecology and evolution, animal migrations, and anthropogenic change and infectious disease dynamics. [4]

Personal life

When Altizer is not on campus or traveling for work, she rides horses, and tends to her gardens and animals at home. She has two sons who are in grade school. [3]

Publications

  1. 2014Rushmore, J., Caillaud, D., Hall, R.J., Stumpf, R.M., Meyers, L.A. and Altizer, S. Network-based vaccination improves prospects for disease control in wild chimpanzees. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 11(97), 20140349
  2. 2013Altizer, S., Ostfeld, R.S., Harvell, C.D., Johnson, P.T.J., and Kutz, S. Climate change and infectious disease: from evidence to a predictive framework. Science. 341: 514-519.
  3. 2013Rushmore, J., D. Caillaud, L. Matamba, R. M. Stumpf, S. P. Borgatti, and S. Altizer. Social network analysis of wild chimpanzees with insights for infectious disease risk. Journal of Animal Ecology, 82: 976-986.
  4. 2012Streicker, D.G., Recuenco, S., Valderrama, W., Gomez-Benavides, J., Vargas, I., Pacheco, V., Condori, R.E, Montgomery, J., Rupprecht, C.E., Rohani, P. and Altizer, S. Ecological and anthropogenic drivers of rabies exposure in vampire bats: implications for transmission and control. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B. 279(1742):3384-92.
  5. 2011Altizer, S., Han, B and Bartel, R. Animal migrations and infectious disease risk. Science. 331: 296-302
  6. 2010Altizer, S., and Davis, A.K. Populations of monarch butterflies with different migratory behaviors show divergence in wing morphology. Evolution. In Press.
  7. 2010DeRoode, JC and Altizer, S. Host-parasite genetic interactions and virulence-transmission relationships in natural populations of monarch butterflies. Evolution. In press.
  8. 2009Harvell, C.D., Altizer, S., Cattadori, I., Harrington, L. and Weil, E. Climate change and wildlife diseases: when does the host matter the most? Ecology. 90: 912-920.
  9. 2008De Roode, J.C., Yates, A.J. and Altizer, S. Virulence-transmission trade-offs and population divergence in virulence in a naturally-occurring butterfly parasite. PNAS. 105: 7489-7494
  10. 2008Bradley, C.A., Gibbs, S.E.J. and Altizer, S. Urban land use predicts West Nile virus exposure in songbirds. Ecological applications. 18: 1083–1092

Honors and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monarch butterfly</span> Milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Odum</span> American biologist and systems ecologist (1913–2002)

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References

  1. 1 2 "Odum School of Ecology" . Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Sonia Altizer named UGA Athletic Association Professor in Ecology". The Ocone Enterprise. The Ocone Enterprise. October 8, 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Ted x UGA". Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. "UC Davis Sonia Altizer" . Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. "The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Recipient Details: Sonia Altizer". NSF.

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