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

Do fungi look like macroparasites? Quantifying the patterns and mechanisms of aggregation for host-fungal parasite relationships

Sarah A.R. Schrock, Jason C. Walsman, Joseph DeMarchi, Emily H. Lesage, Michel E.B. Ohmer, Louise A. Rollins-Smith, Cheryl J. Briggs, Corinne L. Richards-Zawacki, Douglas C. Woodhams, Roland A. Knapp, Thomas C. Smith, Célio F.B. Haddad, C. Guilherme Becker, Pieter T.J. Johnson, Mark Q. Wilber, 2025, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

The role of seasonal migration in predicting amphibian population persistence across fragmented tropical landscapes: an individual-based model

Tamilie Carvalho, Nereyda Falconi, Thomas White, Luciano Alves dos Anjos, Luís O.M. Giasson, Maurício Humberto Vancine, Célio F.B. Haddad, Luís Felipe Toledo, C. Guilherme Becker, 2025, Biodiversity and Conservation on p. 1291-1310

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

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

Leaf Shelters Facilitate the Colonisation of Arthropods and Enhance Microbial Diversity on Plants

Danilo F  B dos Santos, Jacob E Herschberger, Bijay Subedi, Victoria M Pocius, Wesley J Neely, Sasha E Greenspan, C.  Guilherme Becker, Gustavo Q Romero, Mônica F Kersch-Becker, 2024, Ecology Letters

Brazil must reverse gear on Amazon road development

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

Host-associated helminth diversity and microbiome composition contribute to anti-pathogen defences in tropical frogs impacted by forest fragmentation

Wesley J. Neely, Kassia M.C. Souza, Renato A. Martins, Vanessa M. Marshall, Shannon M. Buttimer, Ananda Brito de Assis, Daniel Medina, Ross D. Whetstone, Mariana L. Lyra, José Wagner Ribeiro, Sasha E. Greenspan, Célio F.B. Haddad, Luciano Alves dos Anjos, C. Guilherme Becker, 2024, Royal Society Open Science

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

Most-Cited Papers

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

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

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

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

Variation in phenotype and virulence among enzootic and panzootic amphibian chytrid lineages

C. G. Becker, S. E. Greenspan, K. E. Tracy, J. A. Dash, C. Lambertini, T. S. Jenkinson, D. S. Leite, L. F. Toledo, J. E. Longcore, T. Y. James, K. R. Zamudio, 2017, Fungal Ecology on p. 45-50

Genetic diversity and gene flow decline with elevation in montane mayflies

N. R. Polato, M. M. Gray, B. A. Gill, C. G. Becker, K. L. Casner, A. S. Flecker, B. C. Kondratieff, A. C. Encalada, N. L. Poff, W. C. Funk, K. R. Zamudio, 2017, Heredity on p. 107-116

Low resistance to chytridiomycosis in direct-developing amphibians

A Mesquita, C Lambertini, M Lyra, L Malagoli, T James, L Toledo, C Haddad, C Becker, 2017, Scientific Reports on p. 16605

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