Speaker: Dr. Chris Harbison of Siena College

Title: A fight in the feathers: the impacts of ectoparasites on birds, and the adaptations birds use to combat their feather-dwelling parasites

Chances are the bird you saw on your last birding adventure was not alone; most birds also host a community of parasite species that live in their bodies and on the plumage.  While these tiny parasites are easy to overlook, they have an oversized impact on a bird’s behavior and can drive changes in bird ecology and evolution as well.  In this presentation, we will explore this antagonistic dynamic and use birds and their parasites to help understand larger questions about host-parasite coevolution.  For example, why are some parasites specific to one bird species, while others are generalists?  Why are some parasites more virulent than others?  What strategies do parasites use to better attack hosts and what adaptations have birds evolved to fight back?  Chris Harbison’s research focuses on these coevolutionary questions using a study system consisting of birds and the feather-feeding ectoparasites that live within their plumage.  This presentation will review the nature of this host-parasite dynamic and the many ways birds and parasites have have adapted to one another.

Chris Harbison has been teaching biology at Siena University (formerly Siena College) since 2008 and additionally taught biology at Carleton College in Minnesota where he also completed his undergraduate degree.  Chris received his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Utah where he began his studies of bird ectoparasites.  At Siena, Chris teaches Ornithology, Principles of Evolution, General Biology and other related courses.  He has written numerous scientific publications in journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as well as in parasitology and ornithology journals.  He also regularly presents his work at national and international conferences as well as in academic and public settings.