This BioBulletin Web site takes an in-depth look at the Asian longhorn beetle. The site includes text, videos, photographs, and interviews with key scientists.

In the complex life cycle of a digenetic trematode, the cercaria larva is shed from a snail intermediate host and represents a short-lived, aquatic transfer stage to the next host. Due to its temporary free-living existence, the cercarial stage is ideal for a number of investigative projects. Two general experiments will be conducted with the unusually large cercaria of Proterometra macrostoma. Students assess the effect of: (1) different light wavelengths on the vertical swimming burst distance of this type of cercaria and (2) pH and pepsin on the emergence of the P. macrostoma distome (pre-adult) from its cercarial tail. The latter study represents an in vitro simulation of what naturally occurs in the stomach of the centrarchid fish definitive host.

Why has it been easier to develop a vaccine to eliminate polio than to control influenza or AIDS? Has there been natural selection for a 'language gene'? Why are there no animals with wheels? When does 'maximizing fitness' lead to evolutionary extinction? How are sex and parasites related? Why don't snakes eat grass? Why don't we have eyes in the back of our heads? How does modern genomics illustrate and challenge the field? This course analyzes evolution from a computational, modeling, and engineering perspective. The course has extensive hands-on laboratory exercises in model-building and analyzing evolutionary data.

Symbiosis is defined as one organism living on, in, or with another organism. Three primary categories are mutualism (both organisms benefit), commensalism (commensal benefits and host not affected), and parasitism (parasite benefits and host harmed). Hands-on dissection of host animals provides examples of live symbiotes in all three types of symbiosis: mutualism: termite flagellates and rumen ciliates; commensalism: Leptomonas flagellates in Drosophila; parasitism: fish hosts (monogeneans on gills, larval digeneans and acanthocephalans in liver) and frogs (trematodes in lungs and bladder; ciliates, flagellates and opalinids in large intestine/cloaca). Possible changes in a relationship from commensalism to parasitism are discussed relative to a demonstration of tapeworm life cycle stages in rat and beetle hosts.

Gregarines are members of the Phylum Apicomplexa that parasitize invertebrates. All of the Apicomplexans are parasitic and include some of medical and veterinary importance (e.g., malaria). Gergarines may be safely studied in highly parasizited hosts such as earthworms and mealworms that are readily available from bait shops and pet stores. Various life cycle stages are easily visible under the dissecting microscope in student laboratories.

This BioBulletin Web site takes a close look at the Lyme disease epidemic in the U.S. The site includes text, videos, photographs, and interviews with key scientists. The Introduction lays out the set of biological and environmental circumstances that have converged to create the perfect conditions for a Lyme disease epidemic. Trees, Ticks, and Spirochetes takes an in-depth look at Lyme disease, including its ecology. Fewer Trees, More Disease examines the link between deforestation and Lyme disease epidemics. Outbreaks from Outer Space discusses landscape epidemiology and how satellite imagery is being used to study and predict high-risk areas. Disease Detectives looks at the work of epidemiologists and how they solved the mystery of Lyme disease.

Presents issues related to malaria as a major public health problem. Emphasizes the biology of malaria parasites and factors affecting their transmission to humans by anopheline vectors. Topics include host-parasite-vector relationships; diagnostics; parasite biology; vector biology; epidemiology; host immunity; risk factors associated with infection, human behavior, chemotherapy, and drug resistances; anti-vector measures; vaccine development; and management and policy issues.

This BioBulletin Web site examines the balance between microbes and humans, and how the scale tips when habitats are damaged. The site includes text, videos, photographs, and interviews with key scientists. The Introduction takes a quick look at the ways Earth's complex web of life protects humans from pests, pathogens, and parasites. Biodiversity and Human Health discusses how biodiversity is the first and most fundamental defense against infectious agents. Ecosystem Change and Diseases examines the dangerous way in which the equilibrium between predator and prey can shift when habitats are damaged. Human Disturbance explains how our relationship with nature has caused many of the problems we are now facing with infections diseases. Reducing Risks explains 10 global initiatives needed to reduce the spread of infectious disease.