Ranavirus

Ranaviruses are members of the Iridoviridae, a group of large double stranded DNA viruses that affect cold-blooded vertebrates. Amphibian ranaviruses are a serious problem in many amphibian populations and communities. The emergence of ranaviruses has been linked to population declines around the world. They are suspected to play a role in many other population declines as well. We are developing compartmental SIR type ODE models of amphibians infected with Frog Virus III, backed by data collected at Matthew Gray’s lab at the University of Tennessee. Current models investigate how incubation delay and multiple infection stages impact Ranavirus disease dynamics.

Students:

Undergraduate PRISM REU work by Adam Harper involves discrete time, age-structured Leslie matrix models: Predicting how Ranavirus Affects the Chiricahua Leopard Frog.

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