Elizabeth Archie Assistant Professor Department of Biological Sciences Fordham University 441 East Fordham Road - Larkin Hall Bronx, NY 10458     office - Larkin Hall, room 220 lab - Larkin Hall, room 360 Phone: 718-817-3639 Fax: 718-817-3645 earchie@fordham.edu       Education and Training B.A. Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME Ph.D. Duke University, Durham NC Postodoctoral Fellow, the Center for Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics, Smithsonian          Institution, Washington, DC Research Associate, University of Montana, Missoula, MT Research Interest and Study Systems My research integrates four areas of biology - behavioral ecology, population genetics, conservation biology and disease ecology - and I use tools and ideas from each of these fields to work on two main research questions: 1. How does social behavior evolve, and what are its genetic causes and consequences? Social behavior and population genetics are linked by the critical observation that social behaviors - such as cooperation, dispersal, or mating - are shaped by, and are major shapers of the structure of genetic variation in populations.  These patterns of genetic variation are the currency of evolutionary change and fuel species persistence. 2. What roles do social behavior and population genetics play in the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases?  Social relationships influence an individual's susceptibility to disease as well as patterns of disease transmission.  Additionally, the structure of genetic variation in hosts and their parasites underpins their potential to evolve resistance.  I'm interested in using population genetic tools to understand disease dynamics, as well as understand the evolutionary potential of host and parasite populations relevant to disease. I currently collaborate with two research groups that each study a well-known population of wild mammals.  The first group is the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya, which is directed by Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole (http://www.elephanttrust.org/aerp.htm).  Second, I collaborate with Vanessa Ezenwa at the University of Montana, in Missoula, to study the ungulates living in and around the National Bison Range in Moiese, MT - including bison, bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, and white-tailed deer.  Research in my lab involves fieldwork as well as lab work in genetics.  When we're in the field, we observe the behavior of wild mammals and collect samples for genetic analysis - usually from noninvasive sources like dung.  In the lab we also use dung samples to characterize the parasites infecting individual animals and extract DNA to conduct genetic analyses. Some current projects: Using population genetics to understand disease transmission.  Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife, and the threats they pose to livestock and humans, are a source of great public concern.  Currently, we know very little about the mechanisms by which pathogens jump from one species to another, or which host species are the most important reservoirs of disease.  In this study, we are examining the spread of infectious disease across species boundaries.  Specifically, we are using population genetic tools to infer nematode parasite transmission in a suite of wild ungulates in and around the National Bison Range, Moiese, MT.  Ungulates are ideal for understanding the spread of infectious diseases between wildlife, livestock and humans because this group is reponsible for over half of the zoonitic emerging infectious diseases affecting humans.  In addition, nematode parasites are an excellent model system for understanding tranmission routes of many zoonotic diseases of public health concern because of their wide host range and ability to persist in the environment for long periods of time.  Both our current study and future proposals will have significant implications for designing disease surveillance strategies to safeguard both human and livestock health. Understanding the relationship between MHC, disease resistance and individual behavior.  One way that animals naturally resist disease is through the genes that support their immune system.  Animals with the most diverse immune system genes are usually the healthiest; however, when populations are small or isolated, this genetic diversity is at risk.  This is a particular conservation concern for endangered and captive species like African and Asian elephants, which face serious diesase threats.  For instance, herpes viruses kill Asian elephants in zoos, and wild populations of African elephants are vulnerable to several diseases, including anthrax.  One first step to understanding how elephants resist disease, and to predicting which elephants are most likely to survive a given disease, is to characterize their immune system genes.  One such gene family is the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which recognizes pathogens for immune response.  We are currently characterizing MHC diversity in wild and captive Asian and African elephants in collaboration with scientists and veterinarians at the Smithsonian National Zoo and two researchers at the Amboseli Elephant Research Project.  The results of this work will be the basis for major research efforts: (1) testing whether MHC variation predicts mate choice in wild elephants, and (2) testing whether MHC diversity predicts pathogen resistance and reproductive success. Understanding the evolution of sociality.  Sociality buffers individuals against the environment and is critical to human origins, yet the transition to group living and the maintenance of social relationships have long puzzled evolutionary biologists:  sociality is beneficial, but social partners also incur costs, by competing for the same resources, contracting diseases, or risking their lives to help others.  These costs and benefits can accrue through both direct and indirect fitness (i.e., kin selection), and I try to understand the evolutionary mechanisms that led to sociality.  Previously, I investigated kin selection's role in the evolution of sociality in wild, female African elephants.  Female elephants form cooperative bonds, but live in fluid, fission-fusion societies where social partners are not always together, and hence the opportunities for kin selection may be attenuated.  However, I found that females spend most of their lives near their closest maternal relatives, and patterns of deep maternal kinship predict the fission and fusion of group across the population.  I am currently interested in testing which selective forces predict (a) the strength of social relationships, and (b) individual survival and reproductive success. Information for prospective graduate students.  My students and I have closely overlapping research interests in four areas of biology: the evolution of social behavior, disease ecology, population genetics and conservation biology.  Projects in my lab are empirical; they test theories and combine research tools from two or more of these four areas.  A background in molecular genetics is especially useful, but is no required.  If you are interested in becoming a member of my lab, you should: 1. Read the information about my research interests on this page. 2. Read some of the publications I've written with my collaborators over the last few years. 3. Then, if you decide that our interests coincide well, please send me an email.  In this email, please tell me why you want to attend graduate school and how you think our research interests overlap.  It is also helpful if you can send me a CV or resume, your GPA, and GRE scores (if you have taken them).  Thanks for your interest! Publications: Archie, E.A., Luikart, G., Ezenwa, E.O. (in press). Infecting epidemiology with genetics: A new frontier in disease ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Archie, E.A., Maldonado, J.E., Hollister-Smith, J.A., Poole, J.H., Moss, C.J., Fleischer, R.C. & Alberts, S.C. (2008). Fine-scale population genetic structure in a fission-fusion society. Molecular Ecology. 17, 2666-2679. Archie, E.A., Hollister-Smith, J.A., Poole, J.H., Lee, P.C., Moss, C.J., Maldonado, J.E., Fleischer, R.C., &  Alberts, S.C. (2007).  Behavioral inbreeding avoidance in wild African elephants.  Molecular Ecology. 16: 4138-4148. Hollister-Smith, J.A., Poole, J.H., Archie, E.A., Vance, E.R., Georgiadis, N.J., Moss, C.J., & Alberts, S.C. (2007).  Older is better: reproductive success increases with age in wild male African elephants.  Animal Behaviour. 74: 287-296. Archie, E.A., Moss, C.J., and Alberts, S.C. (2006).  The ties that bind: genetic relatedness predicts the fission and fusion of social groups in wild African elephants.  Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 273: 513-522. Archie, E.A., Morrison, T.A., Foley, C.A.H., Moss, C.J. & Alberts, S.C. (2006).  Dominance rank relationships among wild female African elephants (Loxodonta africana).  Animal Behaviour. 71: 117-127. Buchan, J.C., Archie, E.A., Van Horn, R.C., Moss, C.J., Alberts, S.C. (2005).  Locus effects and sources of error in non-invasive genotyping.  Molecular Ecology Notes. 5: 680-683 Archie, E.A., Moss, C.J. and Alberts, S.C. (2003).  Characterization of tetranucleotide microsatellite loci in the African Savannah Elephant (Loxodonta africana).  Molecular Ecology Notes. 3: 244-246. Archie, E.A. and Digby, L.J. (1999).  Juvenile dominance in Eulemur macaco flavifrons: The influence of sex and maternal rank.  Folia Primatologica. 70: 277-281.