Education & Training Frequently Taught Courses Research & Creative Interests Publications Office Hours

Amberleigh E. Henschen

Assistant Professor Office: 2023 - Life Sciences
Phone: 2170
Email: aehenschen@eiu.edu

Education & Training

2018 Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee

2011 B.S. in Biology, Creighton University

Frequently Taught Courses

BIO 3120 - Molecular and Cellular Biology

BIO 3520 - Animal Physiology

BIO 4954 - Ornithology

Research & Creative Interests

My research focuses on the variation in how individuals and populations of wild birds respond and adapt to novel pathogens, and how this variation affects reproductive success. In particular, I am interested in how immune response and physiological quality are related to male ornamentation in wild birds. I work in both the lab and the field and aim to integrate questions about behavior, physiology, and genomics.

Publications

Recent Publications

Henschen, A. E., Tillman, F. E., Ruston, S. C., Hawley, D. M., & Adelman, J. S. (2025). Host Disease Tolerance Predicts Transmission Probability for a Songbird Pathogen. Ecology and Evolution, 15(3), e70882.

Ruden, R. M., Henschen, A. E., Langager, M. M., Hawley, D. M., & Adelman, J. S. (2025). Using Multivariate Analyses to Explore Host–Pathogen Coevolution in Complex Trait Space. The Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

Dunn, P.O., Sly, N.D., Freeman-Gallant, C.R., Henschen, A.E., Bossu, C.M., Ruegg, K.C., Minian, P. and L.A. Whittingham. 2024. Intraspecific differences in warbler plumage and mate choice are related to a putative inversion on the Z chromosome. Molecular Ecology.

Veetil, N.K., Henschen, A.E., Hawley, D.M., Melepat, B., Dalloul, R.A., Benes, V., Adelman, J.S., and M. Vinkler. 2024. Varying conjunctival immune response adaptations of house finch populations to a rapidly evolving bacterial pathogen. Frontiers in Immunology.

Henschen, A. E., Vinkler, M., Langager, M. M., Rowley, A. A., Dalloul, R. A., Hawley, D. M., & Adelman, J. S. 2023. Rapid adaptation to a novel pathogen through disease tolerance in a wild songbird. PLoS pathogens, 19(6), e1011408. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011408.

Vinkler, M., Fiddaman, S. R., TeÌŒsÌŒickyÌ, M., O'Connor, E. A., Savage, A. E., Lenz, T. L., ...Henschen, A.E.,... & Westerdahl, H. 2023. Understanding the evolution of immune genes in jawed vertebrates. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/jeb.14181.

Recent Book Chapters

Henschen, A.E. and J.S. Adelman. “Avian Ecoimmunology.” Infectious Disease Ecology of Wild Birds. Eds. Dana Hawley, Jen Owen, Kate Huyvaert. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Owen, J.C., Adelman, J.S., and Henschen, A.E. “The nature of host- pathogen interactions.” Infectious Disease Ecology of Wild Birds. Eds. Dana Hawley, Jen Owen, Kate Huyvaert. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Office Hours

Mondays and Wednesdays 12-2 pm

Fridays 10-11 am