Ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions in a changing world

Chairperson: Oliver Kaltz
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR 5554, CC065, Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon
34095 Montpellier, France
Phone: +33 (0)4 67 14 40 63
Email: oliver.kaltz@umontpellier.fr

Vice-chairperson: Britt Koskella
Department of Integrative Biology, Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
Phone: +1 510 207 8433
Email: bkoskella@berkeley.edu

Global change is in full swing, and increasingly affecting the emergence, spread, and impact of disease. The challenge for biologists is to understand the complexity of these processes in order to predict short- and long-term system responses and to guide management efforts. In this context, pathogens and parasites can be viewed as both signatures and drivers of global change. This conference will bring together diverse and cross-scale expertise to address the various facets by which changing climates, land use, and species distributions influence feedbacks between ecology, epidemiology and (co)evolution in host-parasite systems. 

Across three main themes, this conference will provide the participants with an overview of the state of the art across different research areas. We will discuss (1) how the ecological niches of hosts and parasites are shaped by changing environments, and how this changes the sign and strength of antagonistic interactions and, consequently, the geographic ranges of the interacting players. We will hear (2) recent advances in our understanding of how the topology of contact networks or landscape structure and dispersal shape eco-evolutionary feedbacks in host-parasite systems, particularly in regard to emerging diseases and spreading epidemics, with important implications for strategies of intervention and treatment. Finally, we will explore (3) how various types of multi-species networks influence the outcome of host-parasite interactions, and the sensitivity of these effects to global change. This community perspective ranges from the extended phenotype produced by microbiome or symbionts to the co-infection and co-circulation of multiple parasites.

By addressing the 'global change' context from diverse angles, we aim at fostering dialogue between scientists from diverse research areas (from immunology to epidemiology to parasite & host evolution), using different approaches (field study, experimental evolution, theory) and different organisms and ecosystems. We aim to specifically foster cross-talk between scientists in fundamental research and those working at the interface with applied fields. This is needed to identify areas in which more foundational knowledge is needed to solve pressing societal need and to explore where current theoretical understanding has not yet been fully leveraged to explain and predict disease outcomes in a changing world.

Invited speakers

(provisional titles)

• Lutz Becks (Univ. Konstanz, Germany) 
  The third player effect in virus–host evolution
• François Blanquart (CNRS, Paris, France) 
  The population biology of pathogenicity and virulence of Escherichia coli
• Vittoria Colizza (INSERM, Paris, France) 
  Mapping the global spread of influenza
• Troy Day (Queen's Univ., Kingston, Canada) 
  The evolution of Lyme disease in response to climate change
• Frédéric Fabre (INRAE, Bordeaux, France) 
  Use (and abuse) of mathematical models for plant resistance deployment: insights from participative science projects with agricultural cooperatives
• Ville Friman (Univ. Helsinki, Finland) 
  Bacteria-phage coevolution drives patchy distribution of plant disease through phage resistance-virulence trade-offs
• Andrea L. Graham (Princeton Univ., US) 
  The evolution of powerful yet perilous mammalian cytokine responsiveness across environmental gradients
• Alice Guidot (INRAE, Toulouse, France) 
  Epigenetic variations as a strategy for rapid adaptation to new hosts in pathogenic bacteria
• Katie Hampson (Univ. Glasgow, UK) 
  Dissecting transmission processes across scales and species for canine rabies
• Michael E. Hochberg (CNRS, Montpellier, France) 
  Somatic parasitism as a mediator of multi-trait evolution under short and long-term environmental change
• Oliver Kaltz (CNRS, Montpellier, France) 
  Feedbacks between epidemiology and evolution in complex landscapes
• Britt Koskella (Univ. California, US) 
  Leveraging plant microbiomes for agricultural resilience and reduced disease
• Anna-Liisa Laine (Univ. Helsinki, Finland) 
  Human disturbance modifies the relationship between host diversity and disease
• Frédérique Le Roux (Univ. Montréal, Canada) 
  Viral predators and bacterial hosts: phage ecology for a sustainable blue economy
• Sébastien Lion (CNRS, Montpellier, France) 
  Parasite evolution in spatially and temporally heterogeneous environments
• Sara Magalhaes (Univ. Lisbon, Portugal) 
  How does adaptation to stressful environments affect virulence and competition under single and multiple infections?
• Monica Medina (Penn State Univ., US) 
  Uncovering anthropogenic impact on the coral holobiont through ancient DNA
• Karen McCoy (CNRS, Montpellier, France) 
  Dirty dining: host-parasite interactions in an opportunistic seabird
• Erin Mordecai (Stanford Univ., US) 
  Temperature drives the ecology and evolution of mosquito and ciliate host-parasite interactions
• Alice Risely (Stanford Univ., US) 
  Bacterial virulence evolution in city wildlife: The role of urbanisation in the acquisition of virulence factors in gut E. colis
• Simone Sommer (Univ. Ulm, Germany) 
  Interplay between pathogen, microbiomes and wildlife health in a changing world
• Clara Torres-Barcelo (INRAE, Avignon, France) 
  Phage–bacteria interactions shaping the ecology of plant diseases
• Pedro Vale (Univ. Edinburgh, UK) 
  Genetic, physiological, and evolutionary drivers of individual host heterogeneity in pathogen transmission (in flies)
• Jiasui Zhan (Uppsala Univ., Sweden) 
  Potato immunity enhances the adaptation of Phytophthora infestans to ecological stress
  

Deadline for application: June 6, 2026

Registration fee (including board and lodging)

• 560 € for PhD students
• 780 € for other participants

Application for registration 

The total number of participants is limited to 115 and all participants are expected to attend for the whole duration of the conference. Selection is made on the basis of the affinity of potential participants with the topics of the conference. Scientists and PhD Students interested in the meeting should deposit online before the deadline:

• their curriculum vitae
• the proof of their student status
• the list of their main publications for the 3 last years
• the abstract of their presentation:

The abstract must respect the following template:

• First line: title
• Second line: list of authors
• Third line: author's addresses
• Fourth line: e-mail of the presenting author

Abstract should not exceed 600 words. No figures.

After the deadline, the organizers will select the participants. Except in some particular cases approved by the Chairperson, it is recommended that all selected participants present their work during the conference, either in poster form or by a brief in- session talk. The organizers choose the form in which the presentations are made. No payment will be sent with application. Information on how and when to pay will be mailed in due time to those selected.