Anna Perez-Umphrey, PhD

Postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech

  • About ME

     

    I am a molecular ecologist and wildlife biologist whose primary research interest is the ecology and evolution of wildlife hosts and their pathogens.

     

     

  • Research projects

     

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    Heterogeneity in disease susceptibility

    This project will explore how prior-exposure induces heterogeneity in susceptibility to subsequent infection in populations with varying evolutionary histories with the same pathogen. These objectives are accomplished using a well-established host-pathogen system: The bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum which causes conjunctivitis in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus).

     

    [Currently being conducted at Virginia Tech in the Hawley and Langwig labs]

     

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    Understanding reservoir host tolerance of chronic infections

    The reservoir hosts of many zoonoses tolerate chronic infections without demonstrating any clinical manifestations. The genetic and immunological mechanisms behind this are unclear. I am taking a multiomics approach to understanding chronic infections in the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris), the reservoir host to Bayou virus, which causes fatal infections of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome in humans.

     

    [Conducted while at LSU in the Taylor/Stouffer labs].

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    Environmental drivers of hantaviral prevalence

    Hantaviral host-pathogen dynamics are demonstrably sensitive to ecological disturbances. We look at shifts in prevalence in hantavirus reservoir hosts in relation to gradients of predation, resource availability, and habitat disturbance on the Louisiana Gulf Coast and the Interior Atlantic Forest of Paraguay.

     

    [Louisiana field and lab work conducted at LSU in the Taylor/Stouffer labs; Paraguay directed by the Jonsson lab at University of Tenesse Health Science].

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    Long term effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

    The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill affected thousands of kilometers of Northern Gulf Coast shoreline. We use the seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritima) as a bioindicator of the long-term effects of the oil spill on near-shore vertebrates.

     

    [Field and lab work conducted at LSU in the Taylor/Stouffer labs].

     

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    Other ongoing projects 

    • Endo- and ectoparasitic diversity in marsh rice rats following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill - effort led by Layni Leblanc (https://www.laynileblanc.com/)
    • Barred owl movement ecology - effort led by Vitek Jirinec (https://www.vitekology.org/)

  • Education & Employment

     

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    Virginia Tech

    2021-Present

    Postdoctoral Associate

     

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    Louisiana State University

    2016-2021

    Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology/Molecular Ecology

     

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    Field research

    2013-2016

    • Endangered Species Technician and Crew Leader: Reticulated flatwoods salamander, gopher tortoise, and red-cockaded woodpecker monitoring
    • Northern spotted owl surveyor
    • Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Program (MOFEP) Herpetofauna Technician 
    • USGS Contractor: Boreal toad monitoring
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    Duke University Marine Lab 

    2012

    NSF REU Fellow

     

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    Colorado State University

    2009-2013

    B.S. in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology

    Honors scholar & magna cum laude

  •  Publications

    1. Pérez-Umphrey, A., Jonsson, C. B., Bonisoli-Alquati, A., Snider, A. M., Stouffer, P. C, and S. S. Taylor. (2022). Sex and habitat drive hantavirus prevalence in the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in coastal saltmarshes impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Ecosphere, 13(2): e3929.https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/c940b224-f5ff-433d-8b21-765b7db1164b/Perezumphrey-2022-Sex-and-habitat-drive-hantavirus-pr.pdf?id=3870422
    2. Snider, A., Bonisoli-Alquati, A., Pérez-Umphrey, A., Stouffer, P., and S. S. Taylor. (2021). Comparing the utility of gizzard and fecal samples for dietary metabarcoding in Seaside Sparrows. Ornithological Applications, duab060. 
    3. Hart, M. E., Pérez-Umphrey, A., Stouffer, P.C, Bergeon Burns, C. M., Bonisoli-Alquati, A., Taylor, S. S., and S. Woltmann. (2021). Nest survival of Seaside Sparrows (Ammospiza maritima) in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil  spill. PLoS ONE 16(10):e0259022. 
    4. Spruill-Harrell, B., Pérez-Umphrey, A., Valdivieso-Torres, L., Cao, X., Owen, R. D., and C.B. Jonsson. (2021). Impact of predator exclusion and habitat on seroprevalence of New World Orthohantavirus harbored by two sympatric rodents within the Interior Atlantic Forest. Viruses, 13:1963.  
    5. Moyo, S., Bennadji, H., Laguaite, D., Bonisoli-Alquati, A., Olin, J.A., Stouffer, P., Taylor, S., Pérez-Umphrey, A., Snider, A., Lopez-Duarte, P., Roberts, B., Hooper-Bui, L., and M. J. Polito. (2021). Stable isotope analyses identify trophic niche partitioning betweensympatric terrestrial vertebrates in coastal saltmarshes with differing oiling histories. PeerJ, 9:e11392.  
    6. Thomas, S., Leblanc, L., Pérez-Umphrey, A., Williams, S. T.,Nevarez, J., and S. S. Taylor. (2020). DNA yield and turtle handling time: buccal swabs versus blood samples from Red-eared Sliders and Eastern Musk Turtles. Southeastern Naturalist, (29)2: 355-362.  
    7. Pérez-Umphrey, A., Bergeon Burns, C. M., Stouffer, P. C, Woltmann, S. and S. S. Taylor. (2018). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in Seaside Sparrows (Ammodramus maritimus) following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Science of the Total Environment,(630): 1086-1094.  
    8. Hasselman,D. J., Argo, E. E., McBride, M. C., Bentzen, P., Schultz, T. F., Pérez-Umphrey, A., and E. P. Palkovacs. (2014). Human disturbance causes the formation of a hybrid swarm between two naturally sympatric fish species. Molecular Ecology, (23)5: 1137-1152. 

     

     

    Contact me for PDF copies of interest

     

  • Contact me

     

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    Email: aperezumphreyATgmail.com

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    Twitter: @Anna_P_Umphrey

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