Disease dynamics of complex life cycle parasites are especially sensitive to environmental conditions due to the physiological requirements of the multiple host species they infect. Yet, trematode parasites are transmitted globally in localities with extreme seasonal variation in rainfall or temperature. Transmission is only possible because of the impressive dormancy capacities of their intermediate hosts, aquatic snails. This lecture will primarily focus on the impact of seasonality on the transmission of the neglected tropical disease, schistosomiasis, in Tanzanian farming habitats. I will discuss how ephemerality impacts disease risk for humans and the potential to harness this ecology for intervention of this disease. Snails also transmit trematode disease to livestock globally, such as fascioliasis, causing large economic losses and livelihood challenges to farmers. In both Tanzania and the Netherlands, anthropogenic influences like nutrient pollution and heavy metal pollution can exacerbate transmission risk. Understanding and mitigating these complex disease dynamics requires a one health approach, focusing on environment, animal, and human health.
Nature of Life Seminar: Dr. Naima Starkloff 19 May 2026 16:00 - 17:45
About Nature of Life Seminar: Dr. Naima Starkloff
Starting date
- 19 May 2026
Time
- 16:00 - 17:45
Location
- Main Building
- HG-08A33
Address
- De Boelelaan 1105
- 1081 HV Amsterdam
Organised by
- A-LIFE, Systems Ecology and Ecology & Evolution
Language
- English
About our speaker:
Dr. Naima Starkloff is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, University of Amsterdam. She is a biologist trained in the US (PhD at State University of New York and postdoc at Emory University), who is interested in ecological interactions, disease, and human well-being. She has been conduction research in northwestern Tanzania for the last five years. Her lab uses ecological knowledge to tackle questions of public health importance in human modified landscapes. Specifically, she looks at how seasonality impacts snail and human ecology, in order to identify targets for disease intervention that could provide relief to biological and human communities.
