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 The Bird laboratory undertakes basic research on the biology of nematodes. These round worms are the most successful and abundant animals and define the phylum Nematoda. Most are small (typically 1 mm) and feed on detritus or bacteria, but nematodes occupy all ecological niches, including being parasites of probably all other complex animals and plants. The impact of nematodes on humans is felt through yield reductions in food and fiber crops, through debilitation of livestock and companion animals, and by direct infection; nematodes such as hookworm and Ascaris each infect more than a billion people world-wide, and nematodes are responsible for exotic diseases such as elephantiasis and river-blindness. The bacterial-feeding nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has become one of the pre-eminent biological models. Biologists unfamiliar with C elegans may find Mark Blaxter's The Genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans, An Introduction to be useful. Bird's research focuses on plant-parasitic nematodes, which are probably the single major uncontrollable biotic cause of plant stress and crop loss. Click for a Brief Introduction to Plant-Parasitic Nematodes developed by Daniel Snyder, and a List of Nematode Links developed by Jim McCarter and Todd Wylie.
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