Faculty/Staff Directory

Alynn

Martin

martalyn@gvsu.edu

• Assistant Professor

3440f KHS

616-331-8584

Wildlife disease, disease ecology, population genetics and genomics, ecological modeling

Wildlife Disease Association
The Wildlife Society

NRM 150 - Introduction to Natural Resource Conservation
NRM 495 - Senior Project and Seminar

Managing the impacts and spread of wildlife disease at the population scale and understanding the physiological and behavioral toll of disease on individual hosts. My interests are broad and include systems with different pathogen types, including viruses (hemorrhagic disease in rabbits, feline immunodeficiency virus), parasites (sarcoptic mange, toxoplasmosis, ticks and tickborne illnesses, and helminths), and prions (chronic wasting disease in ungulates). I am also interested in diseases at the wildlife-livestock/domestic animal interface.

PhD – University of Tasmania (Sandy Bay, TAS, AUS)
MSc – Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI, USA)
BSc – John Carroll University (University Heights, OH, USA)

Martin AM, Isasi-Catalá E, Salgado-Caxito M, Gallegos A, Hostos-Olivera L, Colchao-Claux P, Smith S, Beltran-Saavedra LP, Dougnac C, Germana C, Montoya M, Carver S, Cross PC, and C Walzer. 2025. Challenges and opportunities in mitigating sarcoptic mange in wild South American camelids. Journal of Wildlife Management e70125, DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.70125.

Corti P, Jimenez-Torres M, Hamer R, Martin AM, Radic-Schilling, and M Ruiz-Aravena. 2025. Buried Truths: How Puma Caching of Carrion Confounds Livestock Mortality Attribution. Animal Conservation 0:1-3, DOI: 10.1111/acv.70027.

Thurman, LL et al. 2024. Disease-smart climate adaptation for wildlife management and conservation. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment DOI: 10.1002/fee.2716.

Carver S, Stannard GL, AM Martin. 2024. The Distinctive Biology and Characteristics of the Bare- Nosed Wombat (Vombatus ursinus). Annual Review of Animal DOI: 10.1146/annurev-animal-021022-042133.

Martin AM, Buttke D, Raphael J, Taylor K, Maes S, Parise CM, Ginsberg HS, PC Cross. 2023. Deer management generally reduces densities of nymphal Ixodes scapularis, but not prevalence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102202.

Martin AM, Vonhof MJ, Henshaw M, Dreyer JM, Munster SK, Kirby L, and AL Russell. 2023. Genetic structure of the vulnerable tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) across its eastern range. Acta Chiropterologica 24(2):299–314. DOI: 10.3161/15081109ACC2022.24.2.002.

Martin AM, Hogg JT, Manlove KR, LaSharr TN, Shannon JM, McWhirter DE, Miyasaki H, Monteith KL, and PC Cross. 2022. Disease and secondary sexual traits: effects of pneumonia on horn size of bighorn sheep. Journal of Wildlife Management. DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.22154.

Martin AM, Cassirer EF, Waits LP, Plowright RK, Cross PC, KR Andrews. 2021. Genomic association with pathogen carriage in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Ecology and Evolution 11: 2488– 2502, DOI:10.1002/ece3.7159.

Yang PJ et al. 2021. Intestines of non-uniform stiffness mold the corners of wombat feces. Soft Matter 17: 475-488, DOI: 10.1039/D0SM01230K.

Martin AM, Richards SA, Fraser TA, Polkinghorne A, Burridge CP, and S Carver. 2019. Population-scale treatment informs solutions for control of environmentally transmitted wildlife disease. Journal of Applied Ecology 56: 2363– 2375, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13467.

Martin AM, Carver S, Proft K, Fraser TA, Polkinghorne A, Banks S, and CP Burridge. 2019. Isolation, marine transgression and translocation of the bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus). Evolutionary Applications 12: 1114– 1123,DOI: 10.1111/eva.12785.

Martin AM, Rideout-Hanzak S, Wzientek C, Shapiro H, Karelus D, McLaughlin J, and SE Henke. Emergence of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus 2 (RHDV2) in the Western United States: A Threat to the Vulnerable Davis Mountain Cottontail Rabbit. Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society, October 2025. Edmonton, AB, CA.

Martin AM and DG Hewitt. Potpourri of Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Institute’s Chronic Wasting Disease Research. 2025 Interstate Chronic Wasting Disease Meeting and Research Summit, June 2025. Wilmington, DE, USA.

Barrett M, et al. Genetic Structure and Variation of Wild Turkey in Oklahoma. 60th Annual Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Meeting, February 2024. Houston, TX, USA.

Sando R, Wurster P, Thurman L, Martin AM, McClean K, Jones J, Sarbanes A and E Poor. Development of a Surface-Water Index of Permanence (SWIPe) to assess surface-water availability for ecohydrological refugia in the upper Missouri River basin. Montana Chapter of the American Water Resource Association, October 2023. Missoula, MT, USA.

Martin AM. Infectious diseases of White-tailed Deer in grassland ecosystems. The 24^th Annual Binational Seminar on White-tailed Deer, October 2023. Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, MX.

Martin AM. Wildlife Disease Program. Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Institute Partners Meeting, September 2023. Austin, TX, USA.

Martin AM. From individual to ecosystem: integrative methods for understanding and managing wildlife disease. Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Institute Advisory Board meeting, February 2023. Kingsville, TX, USA.

Martin AM, Buttke D, Ginsberg H, and PC Cross. National parks tick surveillance in the mid- and south-Atlantic. Appalachian Interstate Tick Surveillance Work Group Meeting, May 2022. Abingdon, VA, USA (virtual).

Martin AM. Impact of pneumonia on bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) horn size. Ecolunch Series. March 2022. U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center. Bozeman, MT, USA (virtual).

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