Parasites are ubiquitous in all ecosystems and have an intrinsic value to the functioning of ecosystems far beyond the harmful effects they may in some cases pose on their hosts. Despite their impact on host organisms can lead to ecosystem level alterations they are rarely accounted for as part of the diversity in ecosystems. We focus our work in improving our knowledge on the ecology of parasites and investigating the consequences of changes (i.e., global warming, habitat restoration, etc.) to the assemblages of parasite species in ecosystems to fill these knowledge gaps.

Parasitism, as well as other symbiotic interactions, is recognized as a key driver of evolutionary novelty and ecological diversity throughout the tree of life. Often, the evolutionary fate of host and parasite partners is intertwined at ecological and evolutionary levels but it is not yet clear how macroevolutionary processes originate extant associations. Our lab is working on disentangling the contribution of evolutionary relationships between hosts and parasites (through their phylogenies), and role of parasite and host ecological traits to the congruence of H-P phylogeographic patterns. We aim to provide new insights into how the mechanisms shaping coevolutionary dynamics in species interactions may result in co-phylogenetic structure among H-P association. Through collaborations, we also contribute to the development of new cophylogenetic methods that allow taking more variables and uncertainty into account.