biology

Peter John Hudson

Peter John Hudson is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter John Hudson rather than just read about it. In short: Peter John Hudson (born 1953) is a British population ecologist known for his work in wildlife disease ecology. He is the Willaman Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University and formerly served as Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences from 2006 to 2019.

Key takeaways

Peter John Hudson belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter John Hudson to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter John Hudson from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter John Hudson (born 1953) is a British population ecologist known for his work in wildlife disease ecology. He is the Willaman Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University and formerly served as Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences from 2006 to 2019.

Early life and education Hudson earned a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Leeds in 1974. He completed his D.Phil. in Zoology in 1979 at Magdalen College, Oxford, in association with the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the Department of Zoology.

Career After completing his doctorate, Hudson joined the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), where he researched red grouse population dynamics in northern England and Scotland. In 1985, he was appointed Reader at the University of Stirling and later received a Personal Chair in Wildlife Disease Ecology. He moved to Pennsylvania State University in 2002, where he continues to work in the Department of Biology. Hudson's research has focused on infectious disease ecology in wildlife; his work has examined the influence of parasites on population cycles in species such as red grouse and the effects of shared infections on community structure and includes how infections can drive competitive exclusion and local extinction. He has also investigated how parasitic infections increase the vulnerability of animals to predation, known as the healthy herds hypothesis. In addition, Hudson has contributed to studies supporting the dilution effect, a hypothesis proposing that greater biodiversity can reduce the rate of pathogen transmission. He examined the dilution effect by examining the persistence of tick-borne viruses in multi-host systems. More recently, his research has addressed the drivers of zoonotic disease spillover, including a 2023 study published in Nature on how climate variation leads to bats moving into urban areas and shedding virus. This was followed by a 2024 article in Nature Communications on ecological countermeasures to prevent spillover and outbreaks. Hudson has participated in several scientific expeditions, including the 1974 Zaire River Expedition led by John Blashford-Snell, where he studied insect distribution ecology, and Operation Drake in Panama in 1979.

Awards and recognition Hudson has received several honors for his contributions to ecology and wildlife disease research, including:

2008 – Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) 2010 – International Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh (IntFRSE) 2012 – Honorary Doctor of Science, Queen Mary University of London 2018 – Awarded Humanitarian of the Year by Kish Bank 2025 – Elected Fellow of the British Ecological Society

Publications Hudson PJ, Dobson AP, Newborn D. (1998). "Prevention of population cycles by parasite removal." Science, 282(5397): 2256–2258. Hudson PJ, Greenman J. (1998). "Competition mediated by parasites: biological and theoretical progress." Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 13(10): 387–390. Hudson PJ, Dobson AP, Newborn D. (1992). "Do parasites make prey vulnerable to predation?" Journal of Animal Ecology, 61(3): 681–692. Packer C, Holt RD, Hudson PJ, et al. (2003). "Predator control and infectious disease." Ecology Letters, 6: 797–802. Norman R, Bowers RG, Begon M, Hudson PJ. (1999). "Tick-borne virus persistence in multiple-host systems." Journal of Theoretical Biology, 200(1): 111–118. Laurenson MK, Norman RA, Gilbert L, Reid HW, Hudson PJ. (2004). "Mountain hares, louping-ill, red grouse and harvesting." Journal of Animal Ecology, 73: 811–813. Eby P, Peel AJ, Hoegh A, et al. (2023). "Pathogen spillover driven by rapid changes in bat ecology." Nature, 613: 340–344. Plowright RK, Ahmed AN, Coulson T, et al. (2024). "Ecological countermeasures to prevent pandemics." Nature Communications, 15: 2577. Dobson, A. P., & Hudson, P. J. (1986). Parasites, disease, and the structure of ecological communities. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 1(1), 11–15. S. Cubaynes, E. E. Brandell, D. R. Stahler, D. W. Smith, E. S. Almberg, S. Schindler, R. K. Wayne, A. P. Dobson, B. M. vonHoldt, D. R. MacNulty, P. C. Cross, P. J. Hudson, T. Coulson, Disease outbreaks select for mate choice and coat color in wolves, Dryad (2022).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter John Hudson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter John Hudson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter John Hudson before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter John Hudson ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter John Hudson

In research: Peter John Hudson appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter John Hudson in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter John Hudson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1953 births, Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford, Alumni of the University of Leeds, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter John Hudson outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter John Hudson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter John Hudson means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter John Hudson out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter John Hudson in simple terms?

Why does Peter John Hudson matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter John Hudson?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter John Hudson.