The talk will be held virtually via Zoom and in-person at 107 Norman Smith Hall, UMaine, Orono.
- Virtual attendance: Complete the registration form for Zoom connection information
Speaker: Allison (Allie) Gardner, Associate Professor, University of Maine
During the early 21st century, the number of outbreaks of infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans has grown explosively worldwide. These emerging zoonotic diseases are integrated into landscapes managed by people and amplified in complex cycles in which pathogen transmission is intertwined with ecosystem ecology and human behavior. Many management decisions at the human-wildlife-environmental health nexus are made under conditions of both risk (i.e., potential for negative outcomes) and uncertainty (due to imperfect, evolving scientific knowledge). This talk will explore the case study of tick-borne disease management in North America, which is high-risk due to the health threat posed by disease and high-uncertainty due to lack of data and/or expert consensus about the most effective control tactics.
Allison (Allie) Gardner is an Associate Professor at the University of Maine studying the ecology and management of tick-borne and mosquito-borne disease. Allie has worked in disease systems including Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and Zika virus and has extensive experience collaborating with interdisciplinary research teams, community scientists, and federal and state agency partners. She has served as an Entomological Society of America Science Policy Fellow, Chair of the “Biology, Ecology, and Management of Emerging Disease Vectors” USDA Multistate Hatch project, and a founding member of the New England Regional Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Disease.
