Finding Vibrio pectenicida, a causative agent of Sea Star Wasting Disease

Ubiquitous and cryptic, parasites are often ignored, yet can have surprising and devastating effects on their hosts population. My primary research goals are to find ecological organizing principles of how parasites and disease will respond to the changing environment. Using sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and sea star wasting disease as examples, I will outline how we found the causative agent of disease and then I evaluate how disease and environment combine to influence population changes.