Contact Information

Office: SCA 322
Mailbox: SCA 110
Phone: (813) 974-4694
Email: erinsauer@mail.usf.edu
Google Scholar
Twitter

B.S. Biology concentration in Marine Sciences, University of South Florida, 2013

Research

Broadly, I am interested in applying classic thermal biology theory to disease ecology with the goal of better informing outbreak predictions, managing harmful diseases, and informing future environmental policy. Specifically, my dissertation research is focused on influence of thermal biology and microhabitat selection on host susceptibility to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (chytrid fungus) and Ranaviruses.

Publications

Sauer, E.L.*, Fuller, R.C., Richards-Zawacki, C.L., Sonn, J., Sperry, J.H., Rohr, J.R. 2018. Variation in individual temperature preferences, not behavioral fever, affects susceptibility to chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 285: 20181111. PDF

Cohen, J., Venesky, M., Sauer, E., Civitello, D., McMahon, T., Rohr, J. The thermal mismatch hypothesis explains outbreaks of an emerging infectious disease. In press at Ecology Letters. (PDF)

Sauer, E.L., Sperry, J.H., Rohr, J.R. 2016. An efficient and inexpensive method for measuring long-term thermoregulatory behavior. Journal of Thermal Biology, 60, 231-236. (PDF)

Cohen, J., Civitello, D., Brace, A., Feichtinger, E., Ortega, N., Richardson, J., Sauer, E., Rohr, J. 2016. Spatial scale modulates the strength of ecological processes driving disease distributions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, E3359-E3364. (PDF+Supplement)

Civitello, D., Cohen, J., Fatima, H., Halstead, N., Liriano, J., McMahon, T., Ortega, N., Sauer, E., Sehgal, T., Young, S., Rohr, J. 2015. Reply to Salkeld et al.: Diversity-disease patterns are robust to study design, selection criteria, and publication bias. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, E6262. (PDF)

Civitello, D.J., Cohen, J., Fatima, H., Halstead, N.T., Liriano, J., McMahon, T.A., Ortega, C.N., Sauer, E., Sehgal, T., Young, S., Rohr, J.R. 2015. Biodiversity inhibits parasites: broad evidence for the dilution effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 8667-8671. (PDF)

Venesky, M.D., Liu, X., Sauer, E.L., and Rohr, J.R. In press. The Dilution Effect: Linking Experiments to Field Data and Evaluation its Relative Strength. Journal of Animal Ecology, 83 (3), 557-565.

Sauer E.L, Fuller, B., Richards-Zawacki, C., Sonn, J., Sperry, J., Rohr, J. (Talk) Some like it hot: thermoregulation and amphibian disease and decline. Ecological Society of America, Portland, OR, August 2017.

Sauer E.L., Hooverman, J., Sperry, J., Rohr, J. (Talk) Influence of temperature preference and behavioral thermoregulation on disease resistance. (a) Society of Comparative and Integrative Biology, Portland, OR, January 2016. (b) World Congress of Herpetology, Hangzhou, China, August 2016.

Sauer E.L., Sperry, J., Rohr, J. (Talk) Interactions between behavioral thermoregulation and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infections in amphibians. Society of Comparative and Integrative Biology, West Palm Beach, FL, January 2015.

Venesky, M.D., Liu, X., Sauer, E.L., and Rohr, J.R. 2012 Presented Poster:The Dilution Effect: Linking Experiments to Field Data and Evaluation its Relative Strength. Society of Comparative and Integrative Biology.

Awards and Grants

Awards

Sigma Xi student membership for the University of South Florida’s 2018 inaugural chapter. I was one of only 20 graduate students at USF selected to be inducted into Sigma Xi. This included a monetary award to cover the membership dues for the first year.

Mushinsky Award 2017-2018 academic year, Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida. Awarded to one PhD student in the Integrative Biology department a year for outstanding research productivity.

Grants 

Intramural (total: $1,900; grad: $1,300)

2018: $250 Travel grant, Student Government, University of South Florida

2016: $400 Travel grant, Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida

2016: $500 Travel grant, Student Government, University of South Florida

2015: $250 Travel grant, Student Government, University of South Florida

2013: $500 Travel grant, Student Government, University of South Florida

Extramural (total: $73,850; grad: $60,450)

2017: £ 1000 Travel grant, VectorBiTE RCN 2017 Workshop, Royal Holloway University, United Kingdom

2016: $200 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Charlotte Magnum Student Support

2015: $200 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Charlotte Magnum Student Support

2014: $58,750 Research funding, Engineer Research and Development Center – Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), Department of the Army

2012: $3,000 REU stipend funds, National Science Foundation, University of South Florida

2010-2011: $100 each year, All Children’s Hospital Scholarship

2009-2013: 75% of tuition per year ($10,200 over 4 years), Bright Futures Medallion Scholarship