Hudson Perspective Published in Journal Science
Peter Hudson, Willaman Professor of Biology and affiliate of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment (PSIEE), and Ottar Bjornstad, professor of entomology and biology, coauthored the perspective “Vole Stranglers and Lemming Cycles” published in the October 31, 2003 issue of Science. The article addresses both the mechanisms that influence the cyclic nature of certain species and also the scientific approach that is needed to elucidate the large variation in patterns observed. They focused their article on recent studies of lemmings where the evidence shows that a specialist predator is a principal cause of the cycles but they extend this to consider the role of experiments in the field and a need to understand how such simple trophic interactions are embedded in more complex food webs.
Hudson researches the ecology and population dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife, particularly those of concern to humans and ecological conservation. His recent research has focused on: biological control of crop pests; disease persistence and competition; and interactions between parasites and pathogens in rabbit populations in the UK and mouse populations in Italy. He is currently focusing on which individuals within a host population are responsible for much of the transmission and with his group found that just a few individuals are responsible for a high proportion of the transmission. They can now predict which individuals cause an epidemic and so where control measures should be focused.
Hudson joined the PSIE in December 2002. He has a joint appointment with PSIE and the Eberly College of Science. Prior to joining Penn State, he held a personal chair in Animal Ecology at the University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland.