Click here for Michael F. Antolin's CVMy laboratory group focuses on the effects of patchy or fragmented habitats on the population genetics of animals and plants. Most of my work has been on the genetics of sex ratio, life-history variation, and mating systems of parasitic wasps. Recently we initiated research with the Short Grass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research Site (http://sgslter.colostate.edu), located 40 miles northeast of Fort Collins on the Pawnee National Grassland. We have conducted studies of the population genetics of the Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), whose populations are severely affected by local outbreaks of plague (Yersinia pestis). Besides studying metapopulation dynamics of prairie dogs, we study the epidemiology of plague in the context of climate variability and the rodent communities surrounding prairie dog colonies, transmission of the plague bacterium by fleas, and genetic analyses of the plague bacterium. Our studies use of a variety of molecular genetic markers, including microsatellites, mitochondrial DNA, SSCP, and DNA sequencing.
Colorado State University Plague Project
http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/plagueweb
Short Grass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research project
http://sgslter.colostate.edu
Program Integrating Mathematics, Ecology and Statistics (PRIMES) NSF IGERT Graduate Traingin Program
http://www.primes.colostate.edu
Flexible and Extendible Scientific Undergraduate Experience (FEScUE) NSF Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics Program
http://www.fescue.colostate.edu
Antolin, M.F. 2009. Evolutionary biology of disease and Darwinian medicine. Pp. 281-298 In: Ruse, M. and J. Travis (eds.). Evolution: the First Four Billion Years, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Tripp, D.W., K.L. Gage, K.L., J.A. Montenieri, J.A., & M.F. Antolin. 2009. Flea abundance on Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) increases during plague epizootics. J. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 9: 313-321.
Antolin, M.F. 2008. Unpacking β: Within-host dynamics and evolutionary ecology of pathogen transmission. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Systemat. 39: 415-437.
Wilder, A.P., R.J. Eisen, S.W. Bearden, J.A. Montenieri, D.W. Tripp, R.J. Brinkerhoff, K.L. Gage, and M.F. Antolin. 2008. Transmission efficiency of two flea species (Oropsylla tuberculata cynomuris and Oropsylla hirsuta) involved in plague epizootics among prairie dogs. EcoHealth 5: 205-212.
Richards, C.M., M. F. Antolin, A. Reilley, J. Poole, and C. Walters. 2007. Capturing genetic diversity of wild populations for ex situ conservation: Texas wild rice (Zizania texana) as a model. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 54: 837–848.
Antolin, M.F., L.T. Savage, and R.J. Eisen. 2006. Landscape features influence genetic structure of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). Landscape Ecology 21: 867-875.
Eisen, R.J., S.W. Bearden, A.P. Wilder, J.A. Montenieri, M.F. Antolin, and K.L. Gage. 2006. Early-phase transmission of Yersinia pestis by unblocked fleas as a mechanism explaining rapidly spreading plague epizootics. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 103: 15380-15385.
Webb, C.T., C.P. Brooks, K.L. Gage, and M.F. Antolin. 2006. Classic flea-borne transmission does not drive plague epizootics in prairie dogs. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103: 6236-6241.
Derner, J.D., J.K. Detling and M.F. Antolin. 2006. Are livestock weight gains affected by black-tailed prairie dogs? Front. Ecol. Environ 4: 459-464.
Antolin, M.F., T.A. Bjorksten, and T. T. Vaughn. 2006. Host-related fitness trade-offs in a presumed generalist parasitoid, Diaeretiella rapae (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae). Ecological Entomology 31: 242-254.
Stapp, P., M.F. Antolin, and M. Ball. 2004. Patterns of extinction in prairie dog metapopulations: plague outbreaks follow El Niño events. Front. Ecol. Environ 2: 235-240.
Baer, C.F., D.W.Tripp, T.A. Bjorksten, and M. F. Antolin. 2004. Phylogeography of a parasitoid wasp (Diaeretiella rapae): no evidence of host-associated lineages. Molecular Ecology 13: 1859-1869.
Antolin, M.F. and J. H. Herbers. 2001. Perspective: Evolution's struggle for existence in America's public schools. Evolution 55: 2379-2388.
Black, W.C. IV, C.F. Baer, M.F. Antolin, and N.M. DuTeau. 2001. Population Genomics: Genome-wide Sampling of Insect Populations. Annual. Review of Entomology 46: 441-469.
