Andy Didyk
Academic interests
- Ecology/ Evolutionary
- Environmental/ Conservation
- Genetics
Brief biography
My current research interests include the taxonomy and community ecology of parasitic helminths and ectoparasites of various vertebrate hosts including the behavioural, biogeographical, evolutionary, life cycle and developmental aspects of parasites, and their intermediate and definitive hosts. The major groups currently being studied include shorebirds, bats and shrews.
Shorebirds: studies on shorebirds have focused on helminth communities in a variety of species as well as an analysis of the accumulation of methyl mercury in the tissues of migrant semipalmated sandpipers that feed on the contaminated amphipod Corophium volutator.
Bats: using specimens held by the New Brunswick museum, several native species of bats are being surveyed for seasonal changes in parasite loads and diversity.
Shrews: currently looking at the parasite communities of the masked (common) shrew, Sorex cinereus, in the Grand Lake Meadows region of New Brunswick.
Courses taught
- BIOL 1621 Topics in Biology I: Life on a Changing Planet
- BIOL 3673 General Parasitology
- BIOL 2053 Genetics
- BIOL 2513 Pathophysiology II
Selected research
Canaris, A. G., Kinsella, J.M., Didyk, A.S. 2012. Helminth parasites of the western willet, Tringa semipalmata inornata, from Montana and Texas with a checklist of helminth parasites. Journal of Parasitology 98(1): 216-221.
Canaris, A. G., Kinsella, J.M., Didyk, A.S. 2009. Helminth parasites of spotted sandpipers, Actitis macularius (Charadriiformes) from Belize, Texas and Montana. Journal of Parasitology 95(6): 1542-1544.
Kinsella, J.M., Didyk, A.S., and A.G. Canaris. 2008. Helminth parasites of dowitchers, Limnodromus griseus from Alaska, and Limnodromus scolopaceous from Montana, USA. Comparative Parasitology, 75(2): 329-332.
Didyk, A.S., Canaris, A. G., and J. M. Kinsella. 2007. Intestinal helminths of the spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularius (L.), during fall migration in New Brunswick, Canada, with a checklist of helminths reported from this host. Comparative Parasitology 74(2): 359-363.
