Sarah Knutie
Graduate Student

(801) 585-9742

 

I graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I then worked several field jobs in animal behavior, disease ecology, and conservation biology before finishing my M.S. in Biology at the University of Tulsa (2009).

I am broadly interested in invasion ecology of parasites. My PhD research involves comparing the effects of the parasitic nest fly Philornis downsi on different hosts in the parasite’s native and invasive range.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Philornis downsi and bird hosts
In 2010, I worked with another PhD student from the Clayton lab, Jen Koop, on the impact of Philornis downsi on medium ground finches (Geospiza fortis) on Santa Cruz Island. That year, my focus was to test the impact of P. downsi on the stress hormone, corticosterone, in adult female medium ground finches. For my dissertation work, I am interested in understanding why P. downsi has such a negative effect on Darwin’s finches in the fly’s introduced range. We know very little about how P. downsi affects other host species in the Galapagos as well as hosts in the fly’s native range. I plan to use an experimental approach to explore: 1) if the Galapagos mockingbird (Mimus parvulus), a larger-bodied host, can withstand the effect of P. downsi compared to Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos, and 2) if the effects of P. downsi on hosts in the fly’s native range of Trinidad are as severe as they are for hosts in the Galapagos. I am also attempting to develop a low cost, low labor method for controlling the fly within the nest.

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Malaria and Rock Pigeons
I have also studied the effects of Haemoproteus columbae, a malaria parasite, on the development and survival of free-living nestling and fledgling rock pigeons (Columba livia). The field component is a piece of a larger project investigating host-parasite interactions, through laboratory experiments, between rock pigeons, a hippoboscid fly (Pseudolynchia canariensis), and Haemoproteus columbae by fellow graduate student, Jessi Waite.

Philippines Biodiversity Survey
In the summer of 2010, I joined a collaborative project between the University of Utah and the University of Kansas to survey vertebrates and their parasites in the Philippines. We focused on several locations throughout the island of Luzon. One of the objectives of this multi-year project is to understand how the loss of biodiversity of vertebrate hosts may reflect on their parasites.

Teaching

Research and teaching are both important to me as a biologist. I have integrated many high school and undergraduate students and local field assistants into my field collection. I have primarily assisted as a TA in physiology courses, but have also helped with several field courses, including Field Ecology, Ornithology, Mammalogy, and Animal Behavior at Itasca Biological Station run through the University of Minnesota. In the future, I hope to design more field-based courses in parasite ecology.

How to band a bird

During the little spare time I have, I enjoy biking, birding/bird-banding, backpacking, hiking, playing soccer, eating bacon, and watching old western movies. Nicknames include: bird nerd and crazy bird lady, but you can call me... Knutie.

Publications:

Brown, C. R., A. T. Moore, V. A. O'Brien, A. Padhi, S. A. Knutie, G. R. Young and N. Komar. 2010. Natural infection of vertebrate hosts by different lineages of Buggy Creek virus (family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus). Archives of Virology 155:745-749.

Brown, C. R., S. A. Strickler, A. T. Moore, S. A. Knutie, A. Padhi, M. B. Brown, G. R. Young, V. A. O'Brien and N. Komar. 2010. Winter ecology of Buggy Creek virus (Togaviridae, Alphavirus) in the central Great Plains. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 10(4):355-363.

Brown, C. R., A. T. Moore, S. A. Knutie and N. Komar. 2009. Overwintering of infectious Buggy Creek virus (Togaviridae, Alphavirus) in Oeciacus vicarius (Cimicidae) in North Dakota. Journal of Medical Entomology 46:391-394.

Henly, S., A. Ostdiek, E. Blackwell, S. Knutie, A. Dunlap and D. Stephens. 2008. The discounting by interruptions hypothesis: model and experiment. Behavioral Ecology 19(1):154-162.