Shelley Adamo
Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator
Related Information
Email: Shelley.Adamo@dal.ca
Phone: (902) 494-8853
Fax: (902) 494-6585
Mailing Address:
Dalhousie University,
Life Sciences Centre,
Rm 3324, 6287 Alumni Crescent,
Halifax, NS
B3H 4R2
Research Topics:- Parasitic manipulation of behaviour
- Ecoimmunology
- Climate change effects on insect physiology and behaviour
Cross Appointments
Department of Biology
Education
BSc (Toronto)
PhD (McGill)
About My Lab
We explore interactions between behaviour and physiology, using insect model systems. We examine how underlying connections across different stress responses (e.g. predator stress and the response to pathogens) shape an animal's ability to respond to environmental challenges such as climate change. We are also interested in how a parasitic wasp, Cotesia congregata, is able to hijack the brain of its caterpillar host. We use a range of techniques including behavioural studies, physiological methods, and biochemical and molecular assays.
Selected Publications
- Adamo SA. (2022) The integrated defense system: optimizing defense against predators, pathogens and poisons. Integrative and Comparative Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icac024
- Adamo SA. (2021) How insects protect themselves against combined starvation and pathogen challenges, and the implications for reductionism. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology B. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1096495921000038
- McMillan LE and Adamo SA. (2020) Friend or foe? Effects of host immune activation on the gut microbiome in the caterpillar Manduca sexta. Journal of Experimental Biology. 223 (19): jeb226662.
- Miyashita A, Lee TYM, and Adamo SA. (2020) High stakes decision-making by female crickets (Gryllus texensis): When to trade-in wing muscles for eggs. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 93 (6): 450-465.
- Adamo SA (2020). Animals have a Plan B: How insects deal with the dual challenge of predators and pathogens. Journal of Comparative Physiology B. 190: 381-390.
- Adamo SA and McMillan LE (2019) Listening to your gut: Immune challenge to the gut sensitizes body wall nociception in the caterpillar Manduca sexta. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 374: 20190278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0278
- Adamo SA (2019) Turning your victim into a collaborator: Exploitation of insect behavioural control systems by parasitic manipulators. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 33: 25-29
- McMillan L. E., Miller, D and Adamo SA (2018) Eating when ill is risky: Immune defense impairs food detoxification in the caterpillar Manduca sexta. Journal of Experimental Biology. 221: jeb173336.
- Adamo SA, Easy R, Kovalko I, MacDonald J, McKeen A, Swanburg T, Turnbull KF, and Reeve C. (2017) Predator stress-induced immunosuppression: trade-off, immune redistribution or immune reconfiguration? Journal of Experimental Biology. 220: 868-875. doi: 10.1242/jeb.153320
Teaching
NESC/PSYO 3165--Neurothology
NESC/PSYO 2570--Introduction to Neuroscience II. Cellular Neurobiology
NESC/PSYO 3180--Psychoneuroimmunology/Ecological Immunology