Milena Zduniak

In my research to date, I have focused on understanding the mechanisms shaping interactions between parasites and their hosts, with particular emphasis on the role of individual behavioral differences, known as "animal personality." Using wild populations of yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) as a model system, I analyzed the relationships between personality, space use, and parasitism risk, and investigated the possible feedback loop between host behavior and the parasites.

Currently, I am expanding this research by focusing on the particularly intriguing case of Toxoplasma gondii - a parasite known for its ability to manipulate host behavior. I want to investigate how the widely described "fatal attraction," which makes infected rodents lose fear of felids, may affect their space use, predation risk, and consequently other ecological processes. I am particularly interested in whether infected intermediate hosts become generally more risk-prone, which can potentially affect a broad range of ecological processes (intra- and interspecific competition, seed dispersal, pathogen transmission, etc.), or if their boldness is limited solely to interactions with their predators.