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Research Interests
Reproductive strategies of parasitic arthropods and host
reproductive immunology associated with parasite resistance and
disease ecology.
Research Summary
I am interested in the behavior and ecology of ectoparasitic arthropods, and the aspects of host-parasite interactions that influence the specificity, integrity and virulence of the host parasite relationship over time. Much of my research has focused on the domestic chicken and a cosmopolitan ectoparasite of birds known as the northern fowl mite (Ornithonyssus bursa), which is a serious pest of poultry in North America. The chicken is an excellent model host for studies of immune function in birds, because of the accessible genomic database and the availability of inbred lines. These tools allow for manipulative experiments to determine the interaction of host immune function and ectoparasite population dynamics. Two current avenues of research are: (1) the role of sex-ratio determination in population dynamics of ectoparasites and adaptation to host defenses and (2) the role of maternal antibody transfer from mother to offspring in parasite resistance in birds. The northern fowl mite is haplodiploid and capable of sex-ratio manipulation of offspring, but the precise mechanism of sex determination is unclear, and the influence of sex-ratio control on adaptation to host defenses is unknown. The quantity and specificity of antibody transfer from mother to chick is being investigated in chickens as a model system for parallel studies of antibody transfer in wild birds exposed to ectoparasites and arthropod-transmitted pathogens.
Research Publications
Owen, J.P., Mullens, B.A., Delany, M.E. (2008) MHC haplotype involvement in avian resistance to an ectoparasite. Immunogenetics (in press)
Owen, J.P. (2007) Interaction of the Host Immune Response and Population Dynamics of the Northern Fowl Mite, Ornithonyssus sylviarum, on White Leghorn Hens. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Riverside.
Owen, J.P. and Clayton, D.H. (2007) Where are the parasites in the PHA response? Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 22 (5): 228-229.
Mullens, B.A., Cardona, C.J., McClellan, L., Szijj, C.E., Owen, J.P. (2006) Culicoides bottimeri as a vector of Haemoproteus lophortyx to quail in California, USA. Veterinary Parasitology 140 (1-2): 35-43.