Publications

• Couper LI, Dodge TO, Jemker JA, Kim BY, Exposito-Alonso M, Brem RA, Mordecai EA, Bitter MC. Evolutionary adaptation under climate change: Aedes sp. demonstrates potential to adapt to warming. PNAS. 2025. Link.

• Couper LI, Uwera Nalukwago D Lyberger KP, Farner JE, Mordecai EA. How much warming can mosquito vectors tolerate? Global Change Biology. 2024. Link.

• Radosevich M, Head JR, Couper LI, Weaver AK, Campo SK, Montoya L, Taylor J, Remais JV. Characterizing the soil microbial community associated with the fungal pathogen Coccidioides immitis. Under Review. Available now at bioRxiv.

• Radosevich M, Dobson S, Weaver AK, Lampman P, Wallace T, Couper LI, Taylor J, Remais JV, Kobziar L, Markwiese J, Head JR. Detection of airborne Coccidioides spores in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California, using unmanned aircraft systems. Under Review. Available now at bioRxiv.

• Lyberger KP, Farner JE, Couper LI, Mordecai EA. A mosquito parasite is locally adapted to its host but not temperature. The American Naturalist. 2024. Link.

• Kirk D, Straus S, Childs ML, Harris MJ, Couper LI, Davis JT, Fobes C, Gehman AL, Groner ML, Harley C, Lafferty KD, Savage V, Skinner EB, O’Connor M, Mordecai EA. Temperature impacts on dengue incidence are nonlinear and mediated by climatic and socioeconomic factors: A meta-analysis. PLOS Climate. 2024. Link.

• Ismail S, Farner JE, Couper LI, Lyberger JP, Lee AS, Mordecai EA. Temperature and intraspecific variation affect host–parasite interactions. Oecologia. 2024. Link.

• Couper LI, Farner JE, Lyberger KP, Lee AS, Mordecai EA. Mosquito thermal tolerance is remarkably constrained across a large climatic range. Proc B. 2024. Link.

• Lyberger KP, Farner JE, Couper LI, Mordecai EA. Plasticity in mosquito size and thermal tolerance across a latitudinal climate gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology. 2024. Link.

• Couper LI & Mordecai EA. Ecological drivers of dog heartworm transmission in California. Parasites & Vectors. 2022. Link.

• Ring KC, Couper LI, Sapiro AL, Yarza F, Yang XF, Clay K, Mateusiak C, Chou S, Swei A. Host blood meal identity modifies vector gene expression and competency. Molecular Ecology. 2022. Link.

• Couper LI, Farner JE, Caldwell JM, Childs ML, Harris MJ, Kirk DG, Nova N, Shocket M, Skinner EB, Uricchio LH, Exposito-Alonso M, and Mordecai EA. How will mosquitoes adapt to climate warming? eLife. 2021. Link.

• Couper LI, NJ Sanders, NE Heller, and DM Gordon. Multiyear drought exacerbates long‐term effects of climate on an invasive ant species. Ecology. 2021. Link.

• Couper LI, MacDonald AJ, Mordecai EA. Impact of prior and projected climate change on US Lyme Disease incidence. Global Change Biology. 2021. PDF.

• Childs ML, Kain MP, Kirk D*, Harris M, Couper LI, Nova N, Delwel I, Ritchie J, Mordecai EA. The impact of long-term non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 epidemic dynamics and control: the value and limitations of early models. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2021. Link.

• Athni TS, Shocket MS, Couper LI, Nova N, Caldwell IR, Caldwell JM, Childress JN, Childs ML, De Leo GA, Kirk D, MacDonald AJ, Olivarius K, Pickel DG, Winokur OC, Young HS, Cheng J, Grant EA, Kurzner PM, Kyaw S, Lin BJ, López RC, Massihpour DS, Olsen EC, Roache M, Ruiz A, Schultz EA, Shafat M, Spencer RL, Bharti N, Mordecai EA. The influence of vector-borne disease on human history: socio-ecological mechanisms. Ecology Letters. 2021. PDF.

• Couper LI, Yang Y, Yang XF, Swei A. Comparative vector competence of North American Lyme disease vectors. Parasites and Vectors. 2020. Link.

• Swei A, Couper LI, Coffey LL, Kapan D, Bennett S. Patterns, drivers, and challenges of vector-borne zoonotic disease emergence. Vector Borne Zoonotic Diseases. 2020. Link.

• Swei A, O’Connor KE, Couper LI, Thekkiniath J, Conrad PA, Padgett KA, Burns J, Yoshimizu MH, GonzalesB, Munk B, Shirkey N, Konde L, Mamoun CB, Lane LS, Kjemtrup A. 2018. Evidence for transmission of the zoonotic apicomplexan parasite Babesia duncani by the tick Dermacentor albipictus. Int J Parasitol. 2019. Link.

• Couper LI, Kwan JY, Ma J, Swei A. Drivers and patterns of microbial community assembly in a Lyme disease vector. Ecol. Evol. 2019. Link.

• Chicana B, Couper LI, Kwan JY, Tahiraj E, Swei A. Comparative microbiome profiles of sympatric tick species in the western United States. Insects. 2019. Link.

• Couper LI & Swei A. Tick microbiome characterization by next-generation 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. J. Vis. Exp. 2018. PDF.

Book Chapters

Kirk DG, Skinner EB, Shocket MS, Couper LI, Nova N, Athni TS, Pourtois JD, Farner JE, Childs ML, Nyathi S, Mordecai EA. Climate Change and Disease Ecology. In: Suzán G, Aguirre AA, Mills JM, editors. The Ecology of Infectious Diseases: Methods on Evolution, Biodiversity, and Environmental Interactions. Oxford University Press. In press.

Shocket MS, Anderson CB, Caldwell JM, Childs ML, Couper LI, Han S, Harris MJ, Howard ME, Kain MP, MacDonald AJ, Nova N, Mordecai EA. 2020. Environmental Drivers of Vector-Borne Diseases. In: Drake JM, editor. Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: Population Biology of Vector-borne Diseases. Oxford University Press (accepted, in press).

Conference papers

Johannes K, Powers J, Couper LI, Silberglitt M, Davenport JL. 2016. Tangible Models and Haptic Representations Aid Learning of Molecular Biology Concepts. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 372-377