Cross-Site: Saurian Malaria: A Long-Term Study

BOREAS BSR Ballston生物科学生物信息学Bitnet CEAS CENR COI COV CRB Christensen Clements Clementsian CoI柯林斯柯蒂斯DCA DD DDD DEB DEB's DGC Delmarva Detling去趋势雌雄异株果蝇杜莱EROC Edwards Erag 9527115 Schall该项目将继续对蜥蜴的疟疾寄生虫进行长期生态研究。将使用三个站点：（1）加州北方的霍普兰野外站，在那里对蜥蜴疟疾进行了17年的野外和实验室研究;（2）波多黎各的卢基略LTER站点，在那里收集了初步数据;以及（3）东加勒比萨巴岛，在那里进行了其他最近的调查。 该项目的总体目标是至少在未来十年内继续在所有三个地点进行研究。 这项研究将检查蜥蜴宿主中三种疟疾寄生虫的分布，丰度，性别比例和种间相互作用。一种疟疾感染了加州的西部栅栏蜥蜴。该物种的生态可能是所有非人类疟疾中最著名的。 另外两种疟疾在加勒比地区共存。寄生虫丰度，性别比例，种间协会都在生态和进化的时间相互作用。这些长期的研究将提供必要的基线数据，了解这个主机-parasite系统。 将讨论三个问题。首先，将随着时间的推移跟踪寄生虫的分布和丰度，并在研究中心之间进行比较。将利用这些数据探讨寄生虫流行的经典模型和最新模型。第二，将利用热带和温带地区的不同流行水平以及寄生虫流行率随时间的变化，对最近关于疟疾配子体性别比例的理论进行检验。第三，种间相互作用，特别是促进，将探讨两种共存的疟疾寄生虫在两个热带网站。两种寄生虫的相对丰度和绝对丰度可以影响蜥蜴之间的相互作用。 疟疾寄生虫是一个多样化的，地理分布广泛的群体。它们对人类的生物学，包括种群生物学的重要性是有据可查的。对蜥蜴疟疾的研究现在表明，疟原虫对非人类宿主也具有核心重要性，包括人口甚至社区水平的影响。 加勒比群岛的阿诺利斯蜥蜴数量极其丰富，由于它们的饮食昆虫，影响了整个生物环境。因此，蜥蜴疟疾可以作为研究宿主-寄生虫生态学及其对生物群其他方面影响的模型系统。

BOREAS BSR Ballston BioScience Bioinformatics Bitnet CEAS CENR COI COV CRB Christensen Clements Clementsian CoI Collins Curtis DCA DD DDD DEB DEB's DGC Delmarva Detling Detrended Dioecious Drosophila Dulles EROC Edwards Erag9527115 Schall This project will continue long-term ecological studies on the malarial parasites of lizards. Three sites will be used: (1) the Hopland Field Station in northern California where field and laboratory studies on lizard malaria have been underway for 17 years, (2) the Luquillo LTER site in Puerto Rico where preliminary data were gathered, and (3) the eastern Caribbean island of Saba where other recent surveys have been conducted. The broad goal of this project is to continue studies at all three sites for at least the next decade. The research will examine the distribution, abundance, sex ratio, and interspecific interactions in three species of malarial parasites in lizard hosts. One species of malaria infects the western fence lizard in California. The ecology of this species is perhaps the best known of any non-human malaria. Two other malaria species coexist in the Caribbean. Parasite abundance, sex ratio, and interspecific associations all interact over ecological and evolutionary time. These long-term studies will provide the necessary base-line data for understanding this host-p arasite system. Three issues will be addressed. First, the distribution and abundance of the parasites will be followed over time and compared among sites. Classical and recent models of parasite prevalence will be explored with these data. Second, recent theory on sex ratios of malarial gametocytes will be tested by taking advantage of the different levels of prevalence at the tropical and temperate sites and as parasite prevalence changes over time. Third, interspecific interaction, especially facilitation, will be explored for the two coexisting species of malarial parasites at the two tropical sites. The relative and absolute abundances of the two parasites could effect interactions between the lizards. Malarial parasites are a diverse, geographically widespread group. Their importance to the biology, including population biology, of humans is well documented. Studies on lizard malaria now suggest that Plasmodium can be of central importance to non-human hosts as well, including population and even community-level effects. The Anolis lizards of Caribbean islands are extremely abundant and influence the entire biotic environment because of their diet of insects. Thus, lizard malaria can stand as a model system to study host-parasite ecology and its impacts on other aspects of the biota.