Biography
Dr. Andrea Townsend is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Hamilton College where teaches Ecology and Global Climate Change Ecology. Prior to working at Hamilton College, Dr. Townsend worked at University of California, Davis. Dr. Townsend received her Bachelors of Arts in Biology from Bowdoin College. She received her Ph.D in Behavioral Ecology at Cornell University where her doctoral work focused on using feather and blood samples to analyze inbreeding in crows. Her Post-Doctoral work was conducted at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Smithsonian Institution.
Research
The purpose of the Townsend Lab is to study how human induced changes in the behavior of wildlife, particularly birds, affect individual fitness and population dynamics. Currently, the Townsend lab examines how disease in the American Crow has been affected by the increasing interplay of urbanization and social behavior such as migration and inbreeding. Facets of her research have been used to address concerns of potential spread of disease to humans as well as the unknown cause of the decline in crow populations in recent years. Her primary geographical study region of the American crow is Oneida County, New York, and Yolo County, California.
Important Publications
Taff CC, Weis AM, Wheeler SS, Hinton M, Weimer B, Barker CM, Jones M, Logsdon R, Smith W, Boyce W, & Townsend AK (2016) Influence of host ecology and behavior on Campylobacter jejuni prevalence and environmental contamination risk in a synanthropic wild bird. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01456-16.
Weis AM, Storey D, Taff CC, Townsend AK, Huang B, Kong N, Clothier K, Spinner A, Byrne B, & Weimer B (2016) Genomic comparisons and zoonotic potential of Campylobacter between birds, primates, and livestock. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01746-16
Eimes JA, Lee S, Townsend AK, Jablonski P, Nishiumi I, Satta Y (2016) Early duplication of a single MHC IIB locus prior to the passerine radiations. PLoS ONE 11(9): e0163456. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163456Freund D, Wheeler SS, Townsend AK, Boyce WM, Ernest HB, Cicero C & Sehgal RN (2016). Genetic sequence data reveals widespread sharing of Leucocytozoon lineages in corvids. Parasitology research, 1-9.
Freund D, Wheeler SS, Townsend AK, Boyce WM, Ernest HB, Cicero C, Sehgal RNM (2016) Genetic sequence data reveals widespread sharing of Leucocytozoon lineages in corvids. Parasitology Research.
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