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It’s been a big year for biology faculty member Michelle Hersh with three papers published across her research interests in biodiversity and disease.
Two of those articles appear in a special issue of Integrative and Comparative Biology, emerging from an international collaboration known as the PADDLE consortium (Plant and Animal Diversity and Disease across Levels in Ecology). Hersh co-organized a symposium at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology’s annual meeting, bringing together researchers across plant and animal systems to explore how biodiversity loss shapes disease dynamics in ecosystems, agriculture, and even human health. Her contributions included both her own research and the introduction to the special issue, underscoring her leadership in fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue.
Her third paper, published in PLOS One, examined how fungal communities interact with their tree hosts under varying environmental conditions, shedding new light on how pathogens influence forest diversity.
Together, these publications highlight Hersh’s ongoing role in advancing the field of disease ecology, and in bridging perspectives that are too often siloed between plant and animal research.