Biography

My interest in plant disease ecology was sparked as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, working in the lab of Dr. Ingrid Parker. I went on to do a Ph.D. with Dr. Georgiana May at the University of Minnesota, studying constraints to virulence evolution in the fungus causing oat crown rust disease. After graduate school, I did a postdoc with Dr. Janis Antonovics at the University of Virginia, studying disease dynamics at species range limits in the Alps. This is where I first fell in love with 'anther-smut' disease, the model organism my lab studies, and arguably one of the coolest fungal plant diseases out there. I started my lab in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland in January 2020. 

Graduate Program Affiliation

• Biological Sciences (BISI): Behavior, Ecology, Evolution & Systematics (BEES)

Research Interests

Research in my lab focuses on the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of infectious disease in natural populations. A deeper look at any natural ecosystem, community or indeed individual will find it teeming with potentially harmful, disease-causing microbes. How do hosts manage to persist and thrive in spite of this pathogen pressure? This simple, yet classic question is the driving force behind my lab’s research. I find the fundamental tension underlying host-pathogen coexistence fascinating because forces on both sides have the potential to drive the other to extinction. This coexistence involves not just ecological forces, but also rapid, ongoing evolutionary change. At the heart of our lab’s work is the study of disease dynamics in natural plant populations. Plants form the basis of all terrestrial ecosystems, and an understanding of how they persist in the face of both endemic and novel pathogens is essential for both agriculture and conservation, especially in a rapidly changing world. Plants are also a remarkable model system for disease ecology, consisting of hosts that can be easily manipulated experimentally in the field and lab to test fundamental ideas in disease ecology and evolution. 

Education

B.S. University of California, Santa Cruz
Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Postdoctoral Training: University of Virginia

Recent Publications

• Bruns, E., Miller, I., Hood, M., Carasso, V., and J. Antonovics. 2019. The role of infectious disease in the evolution of females: evidence from anther-smut disease on a gynodioecious alpine carnation. Evolution. 73: 497-510.
• Bruns, E., Antonovics J., and M.E. Hood. 2019. Is there a disease-free halo at species range limits? The co-distribution of anther-smut disease and its alpine host species. Journal of Ecology. Early View. 2019; 107: 1– 11
• Ashby, B. and E. Bruns. 2018. The evolution of juvenile susceptibility to infectious disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. 285: 20180844.
• Bruns, E., Hood, M.E., and Antonovics, J.  2017 Transmission and temporal dynamics of anther-smut disease (Microbotryum) on alpine carnation (Dianthus pavonius). Journal of Ecology, 105: 1413-1424.
• Miller, I. and E. Bruns.  2016 The effect of disease on the evolution of females and the genetic basis of sex in populations with cytoplasmic male sterility. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. 283: 20153035.