Parris T. Humphrey
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Education
- Ph.D. candidate, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, August 2009–present
- B.A., Biology; Science, Technology & Society (STS), Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. 2006.
Research Interests
I have a general interest in the ways microbes run the world through their interactions with plants and animals as well as their influence on fundamental abiotic processes in the environment. More specifically, I focus on the mechanistic bases and ecological consequences of interactions among leaf-dwelling bacteria, specialist insect herbivores, and the plant hosts that they share.
A few of my projects in the Whiteman Lab seek to understand the...
A few of my projects in the Whiteman Lab seek to understand the...
- fitness effects of multi-tropic interactions and the genetic basis of differential outcomes for parasites and their hosts.
- role of insect herbivores in the population dynamics of pathogens of native plants in the Rocky Mountains.
- direct and indirect interactions among parasites that co-infect hosts.
- role of phenotypic trade-offs in shaping species interactions with natural enemies.
Publications
O’Connor, T.K.*, P.T. Humphrey*, R. Lapoint, N.K. Whiteman, P. O’Grady. Microbial symbioses in the ecology and evolution of Hawaiian Drosophilidae. In review at Frontiers in Microbiology. *equal contribution.
Humphrey, P.T., A.D. Gloss, H.A. Affeldt III, J. Frazier, A.N. Dittrich, & N.K. Whiteman. Decoupling of a growth–defense tradeoff across an ecotone in a native forb. In review at Journal of Ecology.
Humphrey, P.T., T.T. Nguyen, M. Villalobos, & N.K. Whiteman. 2014. Diversity and abundance of phyllosphere bacteria are linked to insect herbivory. Molecular Ecology. 23:1497–515. (Special issue on Nature’s Microbiome; cover article).
Wilbanks, E.G., U. Jaekel, V. Salman, P.T. Humphrey, J.A. Eisen, M.T. Facciotti, D.H. Buckley, S.H. Zinder, G.K. Druschel, D.A. Fike, & V.J. Orphan. 2014. Micro-scale sulfur cycling in the phototrophic pink berry consortia of the Sippewissett Salt Marsh. Environmental Microbiology, In press. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.12388.
Thaler, J.S., P.T. Humphrey, & N.K. Whiteman. 2012. Evolution of signal cross-talk between jasmonate and salicylate in plants. Trends in Plant Science 17:260-270 (Special issue on specificity of plant–natural enemy interactions).
Whiteman, N.K., A.D. Gloss, T. Sackton, S. Groen, P.T. Humphrey, R. Lapoint, I. Sønderby, B.A. Halkier, C. Kocks, F.M. Ausubel & N.E. Pierce. 2012. Genes involved in the evolution of herbivory by a leaf-mining drosophilid fly. Genome Biology and Evolution. Jan;4(9):788-804. (Featured article).
Onder, O., P.T. Humphrey, B. McOmber, F. Korobova, N. Francella, D.C. Greenbaum, and D. Brisson. 2012. OspC Is potent plasminogen receptor on surface of Borrelia burgdorferi. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287:16860–16868.
Brisson, D., C. Brinkley, P.T. Humphrey, B.D. Kemps, and R.S. Ostfeld. 2011. It takes a community to raise the prevalence of a zoonotic pathogen. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases vol. 2011: 2011:741406.
Humphrey PT, Caporale DA, Brisson D. 2010. Uncoordinated phylogeography of Borrelia burgdorferi and its tick vector, Ixodes scapularis. Evolution 64 (9): 2653-63.
Humphrey PT 2006. Investigating the ability of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to disinfect black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Undergraduate Thesis, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
Humphrey, P.T., A.D. Gloss, H.A. Affeldt III, J. Frazier, A.N. Dittrich, & N.K. Whiteman. Decoupling of a growth–defense tradeoff across an ecotone in a native forb. In review at Journal of Ecology.
Humphrey, P.T., T.T. Nguyen, M. Villalobos, & N.K. Whiteman. 2014. Diversity and abundance of phyllosphere bacteria are linked to insect herbivory. Molecular Ecology. 23:1497–515. (Special issue on Nature’s Microbiome; cover article).
Wilbanks, E.G., U. Jaekel, V. Salman, P.T. Humphrey, J.A. Eisen, M.T. Facciotti, D.H. Buckley, S.H. Zinder, G.K. Druschel, D.A. Fike, & V.J. Orphan. 2014. Micro-scale sulfur cycling in the phototrophic pink berry consortia of the Sippewissett Salt Marsh. Environmental Microbiology, In press. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.12388.
Thaler, J.S., P.T. Humphrey, & N.K. Whiteman. 2012. Evolution of signal cross-talk between jasmonate and salicylate in plants. Trends in Plant Science 17:260-270 (Special issue on specificity of plant–natural enemy interactions).
Whiteman, N.K., A.D. Gloss, T. Sackton, S. Groen, P.T. Humphrey, R. Lapoint, I. Sønderby, B.A. Halkier, C. Kocks, F.M. Ausubel & N.E. Pierce. 2012. Genes involved in the evolution of herbivory by a leaf-mining drosophilid fly. Genome Biology and Evolution. Jan;4(9):788-804. (Featured article).
Onder, O., P.T. Humphrey, B. McOmber, F. Korobova, N. Francella, D.C. Greenbaum, and D. Brisson. 2012. OspC Is potent plasminogen receptor on surface of Borrelia burgdorferi. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287:16860–16868.
Brisson, D., C. Brinkley, P.T. Humphrey, B.D. Kemps, and R.S. Ostfeld. 2011. It takes a community to raise the prevalence of a zoonotic pathogen. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases vol. 2011: 2011:741406.
Humphrey PT, Caporale DA, Brisson D. 2010. Uncoordinated phylogeography of Borrelia burgdorferi and its tick vector, Ixodes scapularis. Evolution 64 (9): 2653-63.
Humphrey PT 2006. Investigating the ability of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to disinfect black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Undergraduate Thesis, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
Honors and Awards
- Darwin–Wallace Biodiversity Scholarship (Univ. of Arizona), 2014.
- College of Science/EEB Dept. (Univ. of Arizona) Graduate Teaching Award, 2014.
- Graduate and Professional Student Council (Univ. of Arizona) Research Award, 2014.
- Graduate and Professional Student Council (Univ. of Arizona) Travel Award, 2014.
- Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (Univ. of Arizona) Summer Research Award, 2013.
- NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2013.
- Center for Insect Science (Univ. of Arizona) Dissertation Research Fellowship, 2012.
- Dr. Lee Snyder Memorial Fellowship (Rocky Mountain Biological Lab), 2012.
- Center for Insect Science (Univ. of Arizona) Travel Award, 2011.
- Graduate Research Fellowship (Rocky Mountain Biological Lab), 2011.
- Galileo Circle Scholarship (Univ. of Arizona), 2011.
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2009.
Background
After growing up in Los Angeles, I moved to New York to attend Eugene Lang College where I focused on writing and Science, Technology and Society Studies (STS). After my third semester, I transfered to Bard College to study biology with a focus on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases. I received my BA from Bard in 2006 with focuses in both Biology and Science, Technology & Society Studies (STS). At Bard, I worked with Dr. Felicia Keesing to examine the ecological effects of white-tailed deer as hosts for ticks and Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferia, as well as the relationship between scientific knowledge and politics for disease control strategies emerging from both the private and public sectors.
From 2006–2009, I continued working on the Lyme disease system with Dr. Dustin Brisson at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia PA. With grants from both NIH and CDC, we studied the role of host ecology (rodents, shrews, birds, etc) on the population structure of the Lyme pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi. We also examined the molecular interactions between host and bacterial factors that define the apparent host specificity of various strains of B. burgdorferi that co-occur within natural populations. In addition, using phylogeographic approaches, my work explored the contemporary distribution of ixodid ticks and B. burgdorferi throughout North America to uncover how Pleistocene de-glaciation affected the historical spread of the various components of this disease system. Lastly, I was involved in developing an ecological vaccine aimed at reducing transmission from hosts to ticks in the field.
From 2006–2009, I continued working on the Lyme disease system with Dr. Dustin Brisson at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia PA. With grants from both NIH and CDC, we studied the role of host ecology (rodents, shrews, birds, etc) on the population structure of the Lyme pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi. We also examined the molecular interactions between host and bacterial factors that define the apparent host specificity of various strains of B. burgdorferi that co-occur within natural populations. In addition, using phylogeographic approaches, my work explored the contemporary distribution of ixodid ticks and B. burgdorferi throughout North America to uncover how Pleistocene de-glaciation affected the historical spread of the various components of this disease system. Lastly, I was involved in developing an ecological vaccine aimed at reducing transmission from hosts to ticks in the field.
Why I Love Tucson
