Paul Leisnham, Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Mosquito Ecology,
Global Change Biology,
Invasion Biology,
Human and Ecosystem Health.

Environmental change provides a great opportunity to ask both applied and basic science questions. From a practical perspective, understanding changing environments is vital for alleviating undesirable ecological and health effects, and to exploit potential positive effects. From a basic perspective, environmental change provides a great opportunity to study nonequilibrium systems and thus test hypotheses of how physical and biotic interactions affect all ecological units, from individual species through to ecosystem processes.

My research is centered on the ecology of native and invasive mosquitoes in water-filled containers, wetlands, and drainage systems. Because human and ecosystem health are intrinsically linked, I am interested in species that are affected both by human disruptions (e.g., climate change, land use change, and globalization) and that present social, economic, and health risks.

Professional and Educational Background

NIH-Funded Postdoctoral Fellow. Illinois State University. (2005-08). Invasion biology of A. albopictus (Asian Tiger Mosquito). Mentor: Steven A. Juliano.
Ph.D., Ecology and Health, University of Otago, New Zealand (2005). Anthropogenic land use change and mosquitoes of public health importance in New Zealand. Advisors: Philip Weinstein, Philip Lester, and David Slaney.
M.S., Zoology, University of Otago (2001). Metapopulation dynamics of alpine tree weta, Hemideina maori. Advisor: Ian Jamieson.
B.S., Zoology, University of Otago (1999).

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Last updated: 05/22/2011

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