Dissertation Research: Virus Infection in Field Populations of a Terrestrial Isopod

论文研究：陆地等足类动物野外种群的病毒感染

• 批准号: 8800962
• 负责人: Wayne Sousa
• 金额: $ 0.6万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1988
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1988-06-01 至 1990-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8800962&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Virus; Infection; Field

One of the major objectives of the field of ecology is understanding the mechanisms by which biotic and abiotic forces determine the abundance and distribution of organisms. Although previous studies have examined various genetic and enviromental factors that predispose individual host organisms to infection by parasites, few attempts have been made to understand how population level characteristics of the host affect their susceptibility to parasites in natural habitats. The proposed research will experimentally examine the ways in which characteristics of terrestrial isopod populations affect their susceptibility to a lethal virus. Experiments in natural habitats will examine the interaction of isopod density and nutritional state with physical characteristics of the habitat which in turn affect their patterns of aggregation and movement. Current theoretical models of host and parasite population dynamics suggest that fragmentation of a host population into smaller groups may be very important in determining the rates of transmission of viruses through the host population. Viruses have become important biological control agents in recent years and their full potential has yet to be realized. Understanding the factors that determine the effectiveness of a given control agent is important to ensure the success of that agent, and this study may increase our understanding of how and when applications of control agents will be most effective. Also, since isopods are very general in their feeding habitats and can disperse over significant distances, they are likely to be one of the most important soil organisms in terms of their ability to disperse genetically engineered microbes. As the use of genetically engineered organisms increases, more attention must be paid to the degree to which these microbes are dispersed by isopods and other soil biota.

生态学领域的主要目标之一是了解生物和非生物力决定生物体丰度和分布的机制。 尽管以前的研究已经检查了使个体宿主生物体容易受到寄生虫感染的各种遗传和环境因素，但很少尝试了解宿主的种群水平特征如何影响其对自然栖息地中寄生虫的易感性。 拟议的研究将通过实验研究陆地等足类动物种群的特征如何影响其对致命病毒的易感性。 自然栖息地的实验将检查等足动物密度和营养状态与栖息地物理特征的相互作用，这反过来又影响它们的聚集和运动模式。 当前宿主和寄生虫种群动态的理论模型表明，将宿主种群分割成更小的群体对于确定病毒通过宿主种群的传播率可能非常重要。 近年来，病毒已成为重要的生物防治剂，但其潜力尚未充分发挥。 了解决定给定控制剂有效性的因素对于确保该剂的成功非常重要，这项研究可能会增加我们对如何以及何时应用控制剂最有效的理解。 此外，由于等足类动物的摄食栖息地非常普遍，并且可以分散很远的距离，因此就其分散基因工程微生物的能力而言，它们可能是最重要的土壤生物之一。 随着基因工程生物的使用增加，必须更多地关注这些微生物被等足类动物和其他土壤生物群分散的程度。