Daniel J. Becker
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View article: Vampire bats in Belize harbor multiple Trypanosoma cruzi genotypes: implications for parasite transmission at the wildlife–domestic–human interface
Vampire bats in Belize harbor multiple Trypanosoma cruzi genotypes: implications for parasite transmission at the wildlife–domestic–human interface Open
Background Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a neglected tropical disease with complex sylvatic and domestic transmission cycles involving vectors, mammalian hosts, and humans. The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is an…
View article: Neotropical bats as bioindicators for emerging zoonoses in Central America: A case study identifying Trypanosoma cruzi in bats from Belize using metagenomic next-generation sequencing
Neotropical bats as bioindicators for emerging zoonoses in Central America: A case study identifying Trypanosoma cruzi in bats from Belize using metagenomic next-generation sequencing Open
Emerging zoonoses remain a global public health concern. Surveillance of infectious and vector-borne diseases is vital for predicting and mitigating detrimental effects of zoonotic spillover events. Beyond assessing what microorganisms are…
View article: Environmental and ecological signals predict food shortages for subtropical populations of Australian flying foxes, reservoirs of Hendra virus
Environmental and ecological signals predict food shortages for subtropical populations of Australian flying foxes, reservoirs of Hendra virus Open
Food availability determines where and how animals use space across a landscape and, therefore, affects the risk of encounters leading to zoonotic spillover. This relationship is evident in Australian flying foxes (Pteropus spp.; fruit bat…
View article: Biodiversity databases as underutilized resources for pathogen discovery: a quantitative synthesis of bat and rodent tissue collections in natural history museums
Biodiversity databases as underutilized resources for pathogen discovery: a quantitative synthesis of bat and rodent tissue collections in natural history museums Open
Zoonotic spillovers are becoming increasingly frequent, and the devastating effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic demonstrate our continued inability to combat their consequences effectively. Natural history museums can enhance the study of z…
View article: Integrating expert knowledge into large language models improves performance for psychiatric reasoning and diagnosis
Integrating expert knowledge into large language models improves performance for psychiatric reasoning and diagnosis Open
When used to predict psychiatric diagnoses from case vignettes, direct prompting of the LLMs yielded most true positive diagnoses but had significant overdiagnosis. Integrating expert-derived reasoning into the process using decision trees…
View article: Paramyxoviruses in Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae): An open database and synthesis of sampling effort, viral positivity, and coevolution
Paramyxoviruses in Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae): An open database and synthesis of sampling effort, viral positivity, and coevolution Open
Over the past 30 years, research interest in the links between Old World fruit bats (family Pteropodidae) and paramyxoviruses has driven a rapid proliferation of surveillance studies in this system. We performed a systematic review and dat…
View article: Viral diversity and zoonotic risk in endangered species
Viral diversity and zoonotic risk in endangered species Open
A growing body of evidence links zoonotic disease risk, including pandemic threats, to biodiversity loss and other upstream anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem health. However, there is little current research assessing viral diversity in e…
View article: Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny
Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny Open
Characterizing host-virus associations is critical due to the rising frequency of emerging infectious diseases originating from wildlife. Past analyses have evaluated zoonotic risk as binary, but virulence, transmissibility, and death burd…
View article: Habitat and seasonal drivers of leukocyte profiles within and across Neotropical bat species
Habitat and seasonal drivers of leukocyte profiles within and across Neotropical bat species Open
Land conversion is a widespread form of environmental change that can alter infection dynamics in wildlife by modifying host immune defence. Such effects may be compounded by seasonal variation in resources and reproduction and differ amon…
View article: Insectivores exhibit superior microbial transmission efficiency and elevated zoonotic risk by 2035 relative to rodents and bats
Insectivores exhibit superior microbial transmission efficiency and elevated zoonotic risk by 2035 relative to rodents and bats Open
Wild small mammals represent critical sources of zoonotic infections due to their high diversity, global distribution, and proximity to humans. Nevertheless, significant knowledge gaps persist in characterizing pan-taxonomic microbial rich…
View article: Museum collections and machine learning guide discovery of novel coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses
Museum collections and machine learning guide discovery of novel coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses Open
Natural history museum collections are valuable but underutilized resources for viral discovery, offering opportunities to test hypotheses about viral occurrence across space, time, and taxonomic groups. We developed machine learning model…
View article: Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems
Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems Open
View article: Regional- and season-specific exposure to lead in a common North American songbird
Regional- and season-specific exposure to lead in a common North American songbird Open
The determinants and physiological consequences of exposure to heavy metals remain poorly understood for songbirds. The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a common songbird in a variety of habitats across most of North America that cou…
View article: Understanding Climate Change Threats to Vertebrate Wildlife by Studying Ecoimmunology Across Biological Scales
Understanding Climate Change Threats to Vertebrate Wildlife by Studying Ecoimmunology Across Biological Scales Open
Synopsis Climate change threatens organismal health and ecological stability in myriad ways, the impacts of which are often difficult to characterize given their complex and interacting nature. To facilitate comparisons across taxa and eco…
View article: Proteomic Signatures of SARS-CoV-2 Susceptibility in Mexican Free-tailed Bats and Their Application to Viral Surveillance
Proteomic Signatures of SARS-CoV-2 Susceptibility in Mexican Free-tailed Bats and Their Application to Viral Surveillance Open
Synopsis The increasing emergence of virulent pathogens necessitates novel approaches to predict and manage infectious disease risks. The importance of integrating observational and experimental approaches to studying host–pathogen interac…
View article: Habitat and seasonal drivers of leukocyte profiles within and across Neotropical bat species
Habitat and seasonal drivers of leukocyte profiles within and across Neotropical bat species Open
Land conversion is a widespread form of environmental change that can alter infection dynamics in wildlife by modifying host immune defense. Such effects may be compounded by seasonal variation in resources and reproduction and differ amon…
View article: Longitudinal impacts of habitat fragmentation on <i>Bartonella</i> and hemotropic <i>Mycoplasma</i> dynamics in vampire bats
Longitudinal impacts of habitat fragmentation on <i>Bartonella</i> and hemotropic <i>Mycoplasma</i> dynamics in vampire bats Open
Habitat fragmentation can have negative impacts on wildlife including increased risk of infectious disease. To assess spatiotemporal changes in pathogen dynamics in vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) in response to habitat fragmentation, w…
View article: Diversity and transmission and zoonotic potential of microbes in true insectivores
Diversity and transmission and zoonotic potential of microbes in true insectivores Open
View article: Diverse hosts, diverse immune systems: Evolutionary variation in bat immunology
Diverse hosts, diverse immune systems: Evolutionary variation in bat immunology Open
The ability of multiple bat species to host zoonotic pathogens without often showing disease has fostered a growing interest in bat immunology to discover the ways immune systems may differ between bats and other vertebrates. However, inte…
View article: A paired analysis of mercury among non-invasive tissues in Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) to inform conservation monitoring
A paired analysis of mercury among non-invasive tissues in Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) to inform conservation monitoring Open
Contaminants can harm wildlife. However, measuring wildlife exposure to contaminants can be challenging due to accessibility of species and/or sampling tissue matrices needed to assess wildlife health risks. For example, in bats and other …
View article: A Collaborative Multiple Stressor Approach for Identifying Spatial Heterogeneities in Wildlife Health and Conservation Priorities
A Collaborative Multiple Stressor Approach for Identifying Spatial Heterogeneities in Wildlife Health and Conservation Priorities Open
Synopsis Wildlife face a number of extrinsic stressors, such as habitat loss, pathogen infections, and contaminant exposure, which can increase the energy needed to maintain optimal health and survival. These multiple extrinsic stressors c…
View article: A minimum data standard for wildlife disease research and surveillance
A minimum data standard for wildlife disease research and surveillance Open
View article: Comparative assessment of Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) gut microbiome diversity and composition throughout transition from captivity to wild
Comparative assessment of Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) gut microbiome diversity and composition throughout transition from captivity to wild Open
Microbiomes play a key role in the health of animal hosts. To improve conservation translocation programs like headstarting, it is necessary to consider how the structure of these programs impact the host-associated microbiome. Bringing an…
View article: Proteomics Approaches to Ecoimmunology: New Insights into Wildlife Immunity and Disease
Proteomics Approaches to Ecoimmunology: New Insights into Wildlife Immunity and Disease Open
Synopsis Understanding wildlife immune responses is crucial for assessing disease risks, environmental stress effects, and conservation challenges. Traditional ecoimmunology approaches rely on targeted assays, which, while informative, oft…
View article: The Effect of Venipuncture Site on Hematology of Bats: Implications for Comparative Analyses
The Effect of Venipuncture Site on Hematology of Bats: Implications for Comparative Analyses Open
Synopsis Wildlife health comparisons within and across populations and species are essential for population assessment and surveillance of emerging infectious diseases. Due to low costs and high informational yield, hematology is commonly …
View article: Between‐ and within‐population drivers of haemosporidian prevalence and diversity in American robins <i>Turdus migratorius</i>
Between‐ and within‐population drivers of haemosporidian prevalence and diversity in American robins <i>Turdus migratorius</i> Open
Avian haemosporidians are a diverse group of parasites that infect birds worldwide and have been a major focus of research for decades. Yet, few studies have identified the drivers of infection at the intraspecific host level. We aimed to …
View article: Paramyxoviruses in Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae): an open database and synthesis of sampling effort, viral positivity, and coevolution
Paramyxoviruses in Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae): an open database and synthesis of sampling effort, viral positivity, and coevolution Open
Over the past 25 years, research interest in the links between Old World fruit bats (family Pteropodidae) and paramyxoviruses has driven a rapid proliferation of surveillance studies in this system. We performed a systematic review and dat…
View article: The effect of venipuncture site on hematology of bats: implications for comparative analyses
The effect of venipuncture site on hematology of bats: implications for comparative analyses Open
Wildlife health comparisons within and across populations and species are essential for population assessment and surveillance of emerging infectious diseases. Due to low costs and high informational yield, hematology is commonly used in t…
View article: Viral genomic features predict Orthopoxvirus reservoir hosts
Viral genomic features predict Orthopoxvirus reservoir hosts Open
Orthopoxviruses (OPVs), including the causative agents of smallpox and mpox have led to devastating outbreaks in human populations worldwide. However, the discontinuation of smallpox vaccination, which also provides cross-protection agains…
View article: Diverse hosts, diverse immune systems: evolutionary variation in bat immunology
Diverse hosts, diverse immune systems: evolutionary variation in bat immunology Open
The ability of multiple bat species to host zoonotic pathogens without showing disease has fostered growing interest in bat immunology, indicating ways immune systems may differ between bats and other vertebrates. However, interspecific va…