My research focuses broadly on the ecology, evolution and conservation of amphibians. In my work, I incorporate elements of population, community, and behavioral ecology in order to investigate the impacts of emerging infectious disease, introduced predators, and habitat loss on threatened amphibians. Typically I use field-based experimental and comparative approaches to test hypotheses. I am currently focusing on questions that incorporate:

· Ecology of emerging infectious disease
· Introduced species effects on aquatic-terrestrial food web linkages
· Phylogeography, including genetics, morphology, and mating behavior
· Ecology and conservation of populations in fragmented landscapes

I am the co-founder of AmphibiaWeb.org (http://amphibiaweb.org) an online bioinformatics project promoting science and conservation of the world’s amphibians.

Recent Publications & Presentations (** = grad student):

Morgan, J.A.T., V.T. Vredenburg, L.J. Rachowicz, R.A. Knapp, M.J. Stice, T. Tunstall, R.E. Bingham, J.M. Parker, J.E. Longcore, C. Moritz, C.J. Briggs, J.W. Taylor. In press. Enigmatic amphibian declines and emerging infectious disease: population genetics of the frog killing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Woodhams, D.C., Vredenburg, V.T., Simon, M., Billheimer, D, Shakhtour, B., Shyr, Y., Briggs, C.J., Rollins-Smith, L.A., Harris, R.N. Symbiotic bacteria contribute to innate immune defenses of the threatened mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa. Biological Conservation.

Finlay, J.C. and V.T. Vredenburg. In Press. Introduced trout sever trophic connections between lakes and watersheds: consequences for a declining montane frog. Ecology.

Vredenburg, V.T.., R. Bingham, R. Knapp, J.A.T. Morgan, C. Moritz, and D. Wake. Concordant molecular and phenotypic data delineate new taxonomy and conservation priorities for the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog (Ranidae: Rana muscosa). Journal of Zoology 271(4): 361-374.

Knapp, R.A., D.M. Boiano, and V.T. Vredenburg. Recovery of a declining amphibian (mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa) following removal of nonnative fish. Biological Conservation 135: 11-20.

Rollins-Smith, L.A., D.C. Woodhams, L.K. Reinert, V.T. Vredenburg, C.J. Briggs, P.F. Nielsen, and J.M. Conlon. 2006. Antimicrobial Peptide Defenses of the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana muscosa). Developmental & Comparative Immunology 30(9): 831-842.

Rachowicz, L.J., R.A. Knapp, J.A.T. Morgan, M.J. Stice, V.T. Vredenburg, J.M. Parker and C.J. Briggs. 2006. Emerging infectious disease as a proximate cause of amphibian mass mortality. Ecology 87(7): 1671-1683.

Briggs, C., V.T. Vredenburg, R.A. Knapp, and L.J. Rachowicz. 2005. Investigating the population-level effects of chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease of amphibians. Ecology 86(12):3149-3159.

Rachowicz, L.J, J.M. Hero, J.A.T. Morgan, V.T. Vredenburg, J. Taylor, C.J. Briggs. 2005. The novel and endemic pathogen hypothesis: explanations for the origin of an emerging infectious disease of wildlife. Conservation Biology 19(5):1441-1448.

Vredenburg, V.T. 2004. Reversing introduced species effects: Experimental removal of introduced fish leads to rapid recovery of declining frog. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101(20):7646-7650.