Dr. Megan Fritz will present "Genetic, behavioral, and ecological divergence associated with urban habitat use in Culex vectors of West Nile virus" as part of the Appalachian Laboratory's Visiting Scholar Seminar Series. To learn more about Dr. Fritz's research, visit her lab website.
Megan Fritz is an Associate Professor of Integrative Arthropod Biology in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and affiliate of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Her research program elucidates the impact of human activities on genomic variation in arthropods. While the focal organisms used in her research are from disparate taxonomic groups (moths from the subfamily Heliothinae, and Culex pipiens assemblage mosquitoes), they serve as models to address a broad evolutionary question: how do human-mediated changes in the landscape sculpt arthropod genomes and produce adaptive phenotypic change? Development of two model systems, one in agriculture and one in the public health domain, has enabled her to consider the downstream consequences of rapid adaptive change in arthropods, and apply evolutionary insights to both enhance agricultural productivity and reduce vector-borne disease transmission.
Please note that seminars in the Visiting Scholars Series are open to the public but are intended for scientific audiences. To learn more about our programming for general audiences, please visit our outreach webpage.
