Dr. Ben Ashby
It is my pleasure to announce our next Math-Bio seminar, happening next Wednesday, March 18th, at 2:00 pm (Pacific Time) in the PIMS lounge (ESB 4133). PIMS tea will follow the seminar at around 3:00 pm.
Our speaker will be Dr. Ben Ashby, a Professor of Mathematics at SFU. This talk will be done in-person, your presence will benefit immensely the event.
Below is more information about this exciting talk:
Host–parasite interactions often resemble an evolutionary arms race, where each side must continually adapt just to keep up. These dynamics can produce oscillations in allele frequencies—often called Red Queen dynamics—that are a hallmark of host–parasite coevolution. Despite their prominence, we still have an incomplete understanding of how they influence broader evolutionary outcomes. Much of the existing theory has focused on their role in the evolution of sex and recombination, leaving their consequences for other life-history traits largely unexplored. In this talk, I will explore the mechanisms that generate coevolutionary cycles and the role of eco-evolutionary feedbacks in shaping them. I will then discuss how these cycles influence the evolution of parasite virulence.