Guilherme Becker

Associate Professor of Biology

Guilherme Becker

Research Summary

Host-microbial interactions, landscape genetics and the ecology of global change stressors. Building models and conducting field and laboratory experiments to understand the biotic and abiotic mechanisms driving wildlife disease dynamics in both tropical and temperate systems.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

Links

Most Recent Publications

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C. Guilherme Becker,

Haddadus binotatus (leaf litter frog)

R Martins, I Scheeffer, C Becker, Herpetological Review

Amphibian tolerance to arsenic: microbiome-mediated insights

Isabella Ferreira Cordeiro, Camila Gracyelle de Carvalho Lemes, Angélica Bianchini Sanchez, Ana Karla da Silva, Camila Henriques de Paula, Rosilene Cristina de Matos, Dilson Fagundes Ribeiro, Jéssica Pereira de Matos, Camila Carrião Machado Garcia, Marina Beirão, C. Guilherme Becker, Maria Rita Silvério Pires, Leandro Marcio Moreira, 2024, Scientific Reports

Effects of grassland controlled burning on symbiotic skin microbes in Neotropical amphibians

Laura K. Schuck, Wesley J. Neely, Shannon M. Buttimer, Camila F. Moser, Priscila C. Barth, Paulo E. Liskoski, Carolina de A. Caberlon, Victor Hugo Valiati, Alexandro M. Tozetti, C. Guilherme Becker, 2024, Scientific Reports

Brazil must reverse gear on Amazon road development

Lucas Ferrante, C. Guilherme Becker, 2024, Nature on p. 33

Skin microbiome disturbance linked to drought-associated amphibian disease

Shannon Buttimer, Diego Moura-Campos, Sasha E. Greenspan, Wesley J. Neely, Lucas Ferrante, Luís Felipe Toledo, C. Guilherme Becker, 2024, Ecology Letters

Thermal mismatch explains fungal disease dynamics in Brazilian frogs

Tamilie Carvalho, Daniel Medina, Raoni Rebouças, C. Guilherme Becker, Luís Felipe Toledo, 2024, Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation on p. 72-78

Coinfection with chytrid genotypes drives divergent infection dynamics reflecting regional distribution patterns

Tamilie Carvalho, Daniel Medina, Luisa P. Ribeiro, David Rodriguez, Thomas S. Jenkinson, C. Guilherme Becker, Luís Felipe Toledo, Jessica L. Hite, 2023, Communications Biology

Linking microbiome and stress hormone responses in wild tropical treefrogs across continuous and fragmented forests

Wesley J. Neely, Renato A. Martins, Camila M. Mendonça da Silva, Tainá Ferreira da Silva, Lucas E. Fleck, Ross D. Whetstone, Douglas C. Woodhams, W. Harrison Cook, Paula R. Prist, Victor H. Valiati, Sasha E. Greenspan, Alexandro M. Tozetti, Ryan L. Earley, C. Guilherme Becker, 2023, Communications Biology

Fungal pathogen infection intensity associated with reproductive mode and elevation in an afrotropical anuran community

Vanessa M. Marshall, Patrick J. McLaughlin, Juvencio Eko Mengue, Liscinia Josefa Bindang, Lauren A. Scheinberg, Christian Irian, Rayna C. Bell, C. Guilherme Becker, 2023, Herpetological Journal on p. 103-110

Most-Cited Papers

Long-term endemism of two highly divergent lineages of the amphibian-killing fungus in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

D. Rodriguez, C. G. Becker, N. C. Pupin, C. F.B. Haddad, K. R. Zamudio, 2014, Molecular Ecology on p. 774-787

Historical amphibian declines and extinctions in Brazil linked to chytridiomycosis

Tamilie Carvalho, C. Guilherme Becker, Luís Felipe Toledo, 2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Community richness of amphibian skin bacteria correlates with bioclimate at the global scale

Jordan G. Kueneman, Molly C. Bletz, Valerie J. McKenzie, C. Guilherme Becker, Maxwell B. Joseph, Juan G. Abarca, Holly Archer, Ana Lisette Arellano, Arnaud Bataille, Matthew Becker, Lisa K. Belden, Angelica Crottini, Robert Geffers, Célio F.B. Haddad, Reid N. Harris, Whitney M. Holden, Myra Hughey, Michael Jarek, Patrick J. Kearns, Jacob L. Kerby, Jos Kielgast, Atsushi Kurabayashi, Ana V. Longo, Andrew Loudon, Daniel Medina, José J. Nuñez, R. G.Bina Perl, Adrián Pinto-Tomás, Falitiana C.E. Rabemananjara, Eria A. Rebollar, Ariel Rodríguez, Louise Rollins-Smith, Robert Stevenson, Christoph C. Tebbe, Gabriel Vargas Asensio, Bruce Waldman, Jenifer B. Walke, Steven M. Whitfield, Kelly R. Zamudio, Ibrahim Zúñiga Chaves, Douglas C. Woodhams, Miguel Vences, 2019, Nature Ecology and Evolution on p. 381-389

Host-associated microbiomes are predicted by immune system complexity and climate

Douglas Woodhams, Molly Bletz, C. Guilherme Becker, Hayden Bender, Daniel Buitrago-Rosas, Hannah Diebboll, Roger Huynh, Patrick Kearns, Jordan Kueneman, Emmi Kurosawa, others, Brandon C. Labumbard, Casandra Lyons, Kerry McNally, Klaus Schliep, Nachiket Shankar, Amanda G. Tokash-Peters, Miguel Vences, Ross Whetstone, 2020, Genome Biology on p. 1--20

Partitioning the net effect of host diversity on an emerging amphibian pathogen

C. Guilherme Becker, David Rodriguez, L. Felipe Toledo, Ana V. Longo, Carolina Lambertini, Décio T. Corrêa, Domingos S. Leite, Célio F.B. Haddad, Kelly R. Zamudio, 2014, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Hybrids of amphibian chytrid show high virulence in native hosts

S. E. Greenspan, C. Lambertini, T. Carvalho, T. Y. James, L. F. Toledo, C. F.B. Haddad, C. G. Becker, 2018, Scientific Reports

Land cover and forest connectivity alter the interactions among host, pathogen and skin microbiome

C. G. Becker, A. V. Longo, C. F.B. Haddad, K. R. Zamudio, 2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Linking genetic and environmental factors in amphibian disease risk

Anna E. Savage, Carlos G. Becker, Kelly R. Zamudio, 2015, Evolutionary Applications on p. 560-572

Warming drives ecological community changes linked to host-associated microbiome dysbiosis

Sasha E. Greenspan, Gustavo H. Migliorini, Mariana L. Lyra, Mariana R. Pontes, Tamilie Carvalho, Luisa P. Ribeiro, Diego Moura-Campos, Célio F.B. Haddad, Luís Felipe Toledo, Gustavo Q. Romero, C. Guilherme Becker, 2020, Nature Climate Change on p. 1057-1061

Rarity as an indicator of endangerment in neotropical frogs

Luís Felipe Toledo, C. Guilherme Becker, Célio F.B. Haddad, Kelly R. Zamudio, 2014, Biological Conservation on p. 54-62

News Articles Featuring Guilherme Becker

Jun 17, 2024

Unexpected diversity of light-sensing proteins goes beyond vision in frogs

Frogs have maintained a surprising diversity of light-sensing proteins over evolutionary time, according to a new study led by a Penn State researcher. Light-sensing proteins, called opsins, enable vision in sighted animals, and are responsible for many more biological functions like regulating circadian rhythms. The researchers explored the evolution of nonvisual opsins in frogs, finding that most modern species examined in this study retained a shocking number of these proteins.

Full Article

Feb 09, 2024

Drought may drive deadly amphibian disease, researchers find

Pumpkin toadlets are in trouble. Progressively severe droughts are disrupting the microbiomes of the thumbnail-sized orange frogs, potentially leaving them vulnerable to a deadly fungal disease, according to a new study by an international research team.

Full Article

Jun 12, 2023

Vaccine against deadly chytrid fungus primes frog microbiome for future exposure

A human's or animal’s microbiome — the collection of often beneficial microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, that live on or within a host organism — can play an important role in the host’s overall immune response, but it is unclear how vaccines against harmful pathogens impact the microbiome.

Full Article

Mar 07, 2023

Habitat split may impact disease risk in amphibians and other vertebrates

Habitat split is a common event in the environment that occurs when different classes of natural habitats, such as forests and water, are disconnected.

Full Article