Urbanization can affect wildlife health through changes in resources, habitat quality, and community composition. Such shifts may negatively impact urban biodiversity conservation and public health through the spread of zoonotic pathogens. In this talk, I will provide an overview of our current projects at the intersection of urban ecology, wildlife disease, and public health. These projects include small mammal diversity and prevalence of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi across an urban gradient, brown rat relative abundance and pathogen prevalence across diverse Chicago neighborhoods, and urban Canada goose migration and health.
