Andrew R. Blaustein

Department of Zoology
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
http://oregonstate.edu/~blaustea/

Dr. Andrew R. Blaustein is a behavioral and population ecologist, professor in the Department of Zoology at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, and the director of their Environmental Sciences Graduate Program. He received his Ph.D. at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Dr. Blaustein has conducted research on a variety of problems including those associated with the population dynamics of amphibians and small mammals, disease ecology and social behavior in animals. His research interests are oriented toward conservation and the environment. For the past several years he has been investigating the dynamics of worldwide amphibian population declines and the causes of amphibian deformities. He has examined how ultraviolet radiation, pollutants, pathogens and introduced exotic species affect amphibians. Since the 1980s, one of the lab's major areas of focus is on disease ecology. This research has investigated the role of fungal diseases, pathogenic yeast, and parasitic flatworms in amphibian population dynamics. Blaustein contributes expertise in population, community and behavioral ecology as well as experimental design. He is especially interested in how synergisms between two or more agents may affect disease transmission. He is also interested in how the behavior of an animal influences disease transmission.

Blaustein feels that it is essential to be able to communicate science to the public accurately, efficiently, and in language that anyone can understand. He is therefore a frequent contributor to television and radio shows dealing with environmental issues and has been associated with a number of local and national organizations that communicate science to the public. He has written articles in and provided interviews for a number of magazines that disseminate scientific information to the public including Scientific American, Natural History, Popular Science, Smithsonian, Discover, Weekly Reader, and Dragonfly. He has taught courses that teach graduate students how to accurately disseminate scientific information to the media, the public and to policy makers. He has continued involvement as a Science Advisor to Earth and Sky Radio, a nationally syndicated station that disseminates scientific information to the public. He is an expert scientist for SEPPS (Scientific Education Partnerships Program), a consortium of scientists from Oregon State University and Hewlett Packard who discuss scientific issues with grade school and high school teachers and students in Oregon.