Dr. Sarah Burthe

My research focuses on trying to understand how anthropogenic change including climate and habitat change is affecting the resilience and persistence of communities of organisms and altering disease dynamics and epidemiology. I mainly specialise in parasite/disease ecology. I lead the ecological work trying to understand how deforestation is impacting the transmission of zoonotic diseases in the Western Ghats region of India. Our project, IndiaZooRisk+: Using OneHealth approaches to understand and co-develop interventions for zoonotic diseases affecting forest communities in India, is looking at three focal zoonotic diseases which impact poor tropical human communities in India. Our work is a One Health approach to trying to understand human spillover, and involves strong engagement with affected forest communities, cross-sectoral policy makers and disease management practitioners, and novel interdisciplinary approaches to develop useful management strategies.

My work also focuses on trying to understand the impact of parasite infections on seabird behaviour, fitness and population dynamics, focusing on nematode infections in European shags as a model study system. I also work on marine ecosystem dynamics, investigating how climate change alters the phenology and stability of multiple trophic levels and impacts apex predators. My work in the field of population Ecology focuses on understanding variation in individual life-history strategies, particularly how migration strategy is linked to individual fitness (survival and reproduction) and how extreme weather events are altering such relationships. My research has applied relevance, providing empirical understanding of the drivers of risks to animal and human health and providing evidence underpinning sustainable use of coastal waters. I am responsible for empirical data collection, data archiving and analysis of UKCEH's long term study of seabird populations on the Isle of May (IMLOTS).

2008-present Animal Population Ecologist, Coastal Seas Ecology Group, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology 2007-2008 Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Liverpool 2006-2007 Ecological consultant, E3 Ecology, Northumberland, UK. 2005-2006 Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Newcastle University.