Juan Van Rooyen

My research interests lie in epidemiology and parasitism, and the evolutionary processes that shape host-parasite interactions. Over the last decade, it has become clear that parasites and pathogens play an important role in shaping several important behavioural and life-history traits of their hosts. One of these traits is the animal's ability to mount an immune response. My PhD project focuses on avian malaria in the great tit Parus major. My study aims to investigate the effect of Plasmodium infection on the host's immune system, as well as to assess the level of competition between different Plasmodium lineages within single bird hosts.

2008 - PhD in Avian Malaria at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, under supervision of Prof. Philippe Christe 2007 Masters degree in Mammalogy at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Thesis title: "Sex Differences and Sexual Segregation in giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) Foraging Behaviour". Supervisor: Prof. Elissa Cameron 2006 BSc Honours degree in Zoology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Thesis title: "The Energetics of Huddling in Two Species of African mole-rat (Rodentia: Bathyergidae)". Supervisor: Prof. Nigel Bennett 2002 - 2005 BSc degree at the University of Pretoria, South Africa