Arizona State University expert directory

Molly Bechtel is an assistant professor of applied biological sciences whose research examines how diseases spread through wildlife populations and how environmental change influences pathogen transmission.

Her work integrates field ecology, host health, microbiome research and pathogen surveillance across Mojave and Sonoran Desert ecosystems. She studies the distribution and transmission of ranavirus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and other wildlife pathogens, as well as interactions among ticks, tick-borne relapsing-fever group Borrelia, wildlife hosts and human exposure through a One Health lens.

Bechtel has conducted field research on desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, woodrats, spotted owls and several amphibian and reptile species, bringing expertise in one health, wildlife conservation biology, disease ecology and herpetology.