Behavioral
Disease ecology
PrincipAL Investigator: Nick Keiser
622 Carr Hall
Department of Biology
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Email: ckeiser [at] ufl [dot] edu
Nick is a behavioral ecologist that studies infectious diseases. In general, he is interested in spiders, flies, and their parasites, though his students have taken the lab's research in countless more directions. He also spends much time watching monster movies, reading sword & sorcery paperbacks, juggling, and listening to heavy metal.
Eric Trotman
PhD Candidate
email: eric.trotman [at] ufl.edu
Eric is a recent graduate from the University of Florida, where he earned his B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. During undergrad, through the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, he studied how habitat composition affects the provisioning rate of the Southeastern American kestrel. Eric also partnered with the San Diego Zoo Recovery Ecology team on their reintroduction study of the mountain yellow-legged frog, focusing on how early life history events may affect survival in the wild. During his Ph.D., Eric plans to study how multi-host parasites affect the behavior of intermediate hosts using a One Health framework.
Anngelyk La Luz Maldonado
PhD Student
email: laluzmalanngelyk [at] ufl.edu
Anngelyk joined the lab in 2024 and studies fungal parasites of spiders with a focus on parasite manipulation of host behavior. She uses observational and experimental techniques to study the specialist araneopathogen Gibellula.
Sanjana Hegde
PhD Student
email: hegde.sanjana [at] ufl.edu
Sanjana joined the lab in 2025 and is interested in host-pathogen coevolution. She will be working on venom-associated microbes in spiders.
Abigail Pope
Undergraduate researcher working on the behavioral and environmental aspects of arthropod vectors of disease.
Kamili Henry
Undergraduate researcher working with the SPDR Collection and the effects of fungal infection on spider behavior.
Sloane Murphy
Undergraduate researcher interested in vector borne diseases and medical geography.
Devin Travers
Undergraduate researcher interested in spider behavior and ecology.
LAB ALUMNI
Travis Klee, PhD
PhD Student graduated 2024
Travis is co-advised by Dr. Colette St. Mary.
Dissertation title: Reciprocal phenotypic plasticity: Exploring the effects of predator behavioral plasticity in predator-prey interactions using empirical and theoretical approaches.
Samantha Shablin
MSc Student graduated 2023
Thesis Title: Assessing the interconnected behavioral and physiological underpinnings of host responses to infection.
Sofia Valencia
Former undergraduate researcher. Currently in medical school.
Ayana Davis
Former undergraduate researcher.
Currently working at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
Elise Richardson
MSc Student graduated 2021
Thesis Title: A multi-scale assessment of the effects on pathogen infection on tick host-seeking behavior.
Steven Cassidy
PhD student graduated 2025.
Dissertation title: Polydomy in a Social Spider: Consequences of Colony Fragmentation for Stegodyphus dumicola Behavioral, Disease, and Trophic Ecology.
Katie Van Havel
MSc Student graduated 2024
Thesis title: Testing the Fear Generalization Hypothesis in the Field Wolf Spider, Hogna Lenta (Araneae: Lycosidae)
collaboratORs
Tim Colston, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Tim is a herpetologist by training, but his research integrates biogeography, evolutionary ecology, and host-microbiome interactions. We are currently collaborating on a project focusing on venom evolution and venom-associated microbiomes in social spiders.
Initiative for Venom Associated Microbes and Parasites (iVAMP)
iVAMP is a collaborative, open-source group of researchers worldwide of all career stages and types with the shared interest to expand the reach of each other’s work as well as the direction of the field of venom microbiomics.
PDF of our first paper describing the field of venom microbiomics and introducing iVAMP.
Former undergraduates
Yinlu Zhu
University of
Florida
Emily Stone
University of
Florida
Brittney Jabot
University of
Florida
Alex Piriz
Nick Dolezal
Joshua Vildor
Samantha Stein
Dylan Vega
Gloria Johnson
University of
Florida
Arletys Leyva
University of
Florida
Michael Ziemba
University of
Pittsburgh
Krishna Kothamasu
University of
Pittsburgh
Emma Every
Rice University
Anu Dwarampudi
Rice University
Tram-Anh Tran
University of
Florida
Imani Butler
Rice University
Celina Tran
Rice University
Haley Uustal
Rice University
Evan Shegog
Rice University
Lizzy Sartain
Rice University
visiting students
Mathew Luksik
University of Virginia
Class of 2022
Iclal Yuksel
University of Houston
Class of 2020
Andrew Luksik
University of Virginia
Class of 2027