The Splendid and the Vile: Parasites and Their Hosts

Please join us for our in-town, indoor lecture series!

Come  explore the complex, often unsettling relationships between organisms that take more than they give. This lecture delves into the strange beauty and hidden consequences of parasitism across the natural world.

Christina Anaya has been an Assistant Professor since August of 2021. After leaving her home state of California in 2014, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 2019 from Oklahoma State University. During her Ph.D., she received a Fulbright Student Fellowship to Iceland where she resided for one year. Later she became a visiting professor at Northern Michigan University and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the national Parasitology laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before settling in Florida. Her previous research focused on the Phylum Nematomorpha, a strange group of parasites that infects crickets and other arthropods and can manipulate their host to find water so that the parasites can complete its life cycle. Today, she is considered a world expert in nematomorph biology. Upon arriving in Florida, she found that the invasive and nonnative reptiles and amphibians of Florida have not been examined for their parasites. Therefore, her current research, along with undergraduate and graduate students, is creating checklists of parasite species in these nonnative species so that we can realize any potential for zoonoses. In addition, she examines parasites of invertebrates with a focus on insects, parasites in crayfish, and many other invertebrate projects. Her work has been featured in local and national news, informational science videos, and even a children’s book.

Light refreshments start at 6:30 pm, Lecture will be 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.