Dr. Toby Hector

E-mail: tobias.hector@biology.ox.ac.uk


I am interested in the evolution and ecology of host-parasite interactions and the impacts of global environmental changes on infectious disease.

Publications

Greenrod, S.T.E., Stevens, E.J., Hector, T.E., Johnson, S., MacLean, R.C., King, K.C2024. Warming alters life history traits and competition in a phage community. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 0:e00286-24.
Hector, T.E., Gehman, A., King, K.C. 2023. Infection burdens and virulence under heat stress: ecological and evolutionary considerations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 378.
Li, J.D., Bates, K.A., Hector, T.E., Hoang, K.L., Knowles, S.C., King, K.C. 2023. Experimental temperatures shape host microbiome diversity and composition. Global Change Biology 29, 41-56.
Hector, T.E., Schocket, M.S., Sgro, C.M., Hall, M.D. 2022. Thermal acclimation to warmer temperatures can protect host populations from both further heat stress and the potential invasion of pathogens. bioRxiv 2022.05.04.488533
Hector, T.E.*, Hoang, K.L.*, Li, J.D., King, K.C. 2022. Symbiosis and host responses to heat. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 37, 611-624.
Hector, T.E., Sgro, C.M., Hall, M.D. 2021. Thermal limits in the face of infectious disease: how important are pathogens? Global Change Biology 27, 4469-4480.
Hector, T.E., Sgro, C.M., Hall, M.D. 2021. Temperature and pathogen exposure act independently to drive host phenotypic trajectories. Biology Letters 17, 20210072.
Laidlaw, T., Hector, T.E., Sgro, C.M., and Hall, M.D. 2021. Pathogen exposure limits the expression of sexual dimorphism in a host’s thermal limits. Ecology and Evolution 10, 12851-12859.
Hector, T.E., Sgro, C.M., Hall, M.D. 2020. The influence of immune activation on thermal tolerance along a latitudinal cline. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 99: e52613.
Hector, T.E., Sgro, C.M., Hall, M.D. 2019. Pathogen exposure disrupts an organism’s ability to cope with thermal stress. Global Change Biology 25, 3893-3905.
Hector, T.E., Booksmythe, I. 2019. Digest: Little evidence exists for a virulence-transmission trade-off. Evolution 73, 858-859.

Education

2021 PhD, Monash University
2014 BSc (Hons), University of Stirling

Awards

2022 Junior Research Fellowship, Linacre College Oxford