Ph.D. – University of Minnesota
B.S. – Duke University
Honors, Awards, and Achievements
2025: UGA Distinguished Research Professor
2024: Fellow, Ecological Society of America
2020: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2018: Lamar Dodd Creative Research Award
2016: Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor
2014: UGA Athletic Association Professor of Ecology
2008: Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE)
2008: University of Georgia Award for Teaching Excellence
- Insect ecology and evolution
- Animal migrations
- Ecology of infectious diseases in natural populations
- Evolution of host resistance and parasite virulence
ML Müller‐Theissen, P Barriga, K Yan, NL Gottdenker, SM Altizer. 2025. Museum collections reveal a global range of Ophryocystis parasites in Danaus butterflies. Ecological Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13426
IG Ragonese, MR Sarkar, RJ Hall, S Altizer. 2024. Extreme heat reduces host and parasite performance in a butterfly–parasite interaction. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 291 (2015), 20232305
Prouty, C., Bartlett, L.J., Krischik, V. and Altizer, S. 2023. Adult monarch butterflies show high tolerance to neonicotinoid insecticides. Ecological Entomology.
Ezenwa, V.O., Altizer, S., and Hall, R.J. 2022. Animal Behavior and Parasitism (book). Oxford University Press.
Majewska, A.A., Davis, A.K., Altizer, S. and de Roode, J.C., 2022. Parasite dynamics in North American monarchs predicted by host density and seasonal migratory culling. Journal of Animal Ecology, 91(4), pp.780-793. **Cover article
Satterfield, D.A., Sillett, T.S., Chapman, J., Altizer, S., Marra, P. 2020. Seasonal movements of insects: massive, influential, and overlooked. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 18(6): 335-344.
Majewska, A.A. and Altizer, S. 2020. Planting gardens to support insect pollinators. Conservation Biology. 34: 15-25
McKay, A.F., Ezenwa, V.O. and Altizer, S., 2016. Unravelling the costs of flight for immune defenses in the migratory monarch butterfly. Integrative and Comparative Biology, p.icw056.
Altizer, S., Hobson, K.A., Davis, A.K., De Roode, J.C. and Wassenaar, L.I., 2015. Do Healthy Monarchs Migrate Farther? Tracking Natal Origins of Parasitized vs. Uninfected Monarch Butterflies Overwintering in Mexico. PloS One, 10(11).
Becker, D., Streicker, D., and Altizer, S. 2015. Linking anthropogenic resources to wildlife-pathogen dynamics: a review and meta-analysis. Ecology Letters. 18.5 (2015): 483-495
Satterfield, D., Maerz, J. and Altizer, S. 2015. Loss of migratory behavior supports high parasite prevalence in a butterfly host. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B. 1801: 20141734.
Zhan,S., Zhang, W., Niitepõld, K., Hsu, J., Fernández Haeger, J., Zalucki, M., Altizer, S., de Roode, J., Reppert, S., and Kronforst, M. 2014. The genetics of monarch butterfly migration and warning coloration. Nature. 514 (7522), 317-321
Hall, R.J., Bartel, R. and Altizer, S. 2014. Greater migratory propensity in hosts lowers pathogen transmission and impacts. Journal of Animal Ecology. 83: 1068-1077.
Altizer, S., Ostfeld, R.S., Harvell, C.D., Johnson, P.T.J., and Kutz, S. 2013. Climate change and infectious disease: from evidence to a predictive framework. Science. 341: 514-519.
Bartel, B., Oberhauser, K., DeRoode, J. and Altizer, S. 2011. Monarch butterfly migration and parasite transmission in eastern North America. Ecology. 92, 342-351 **Cover article
Altizer, S., Bartel, B. and Han, B. 2011. Animal migrations and infectious disease risk. Science. 331: 296-302.