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collared deer

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Kruger zebras

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Pafuri in Kruger

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southwest Wisconsin

Dust bathing elephant, Etosha National Park

Elephants, Etosha National Park

Okaukuejo waterhole, Etosha National Park

Giraffes in a dust cloud, Etosha National Park

The research lab of Dr. Wendy C. Turner

Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Our lab conducts research into the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, focused on environmentally-transmitted parasites and pathogens. We study ecological, behavioral and genetic factors affecting disease transmission and epidemiology, including host-pathogen interactions, host susceptibility, and pathogen variation and persistence in the environment. We examine how together these contribute to outbreak seasonality and long-term patterns in disease dynamics within and among host species.

Our research currently includes three main study systems:

• anthrax transmission ecology in herbivorous wildlife of Namibia and South Africa,
• chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer in the Midwestern U.S., and
• white-nose syndrome and the ecology and conservation of northern long-eared bats on Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket islands.