Landscape Effects on Disease Dynamics in Prairie Dogs

本研究通过调查黑尾草原土拨鼠及其伴生物种的景观变化和鼠疫发生情况，了解景观变化和疾病传入对人类健康和生态的风险。黑尾土拨鼠一直被认为是美国西部短草草原生态系统的“基石”物种。草原土拨鼠的丰度和分布可能影响许多本地动植物物种的发生。像鼠疫这样的血液疾病通过黑尾草原犬鼠和同时发生的其他哺乳动物宿主之间的接触传播。通过实地数据收集、实验室研究和计算机模拟建模的结合，我们将在当地、景观和区域尺度上检查宿主、媒介和病原体的生态关系。由于我们的研究系统包括景观变化和最近的疾病引入，它代表了许多生态系统面临的问题，因为栖息地破碎化和疾病传播在世界范围内增加。通过关注这一宿主-媒介-疾病系统，我们将隔离影响疾病出现和复发的人为影响。通过仔细研究这个复杂群落的接触模式和规模，我们希望发现草原土拨鼠对生态和流行病学的潜在影响。这一发现将阐明人类对生态系统的影响是否会对疾病传播和动力学产生可预测的后果。

Our study investigates landscape change and plague occurrence in the black-tailed prairie dog and associated species, to understand the human health and ecological risks of landscape alteration and disease introduction. Black-tailed prairie dogs have been considered a 'keystone' species of short-grass prairie ecosystems in the western US. The abundance and distribution of prairie dogs may influence the occurrence of many native plant and animal species. Blood diseases like plague spread through contact between black-tailed prairie dogs and co-occurring alternate mammalian hosts. Through a combination of field data collection, laboratory studies, and computer simulation modeling, we will examine ecological relationships of hosts, vectors, and pathogens at the local, landscape, and regional scales.Because our study system includes landscape change and recent disease introduction, it is representative of problems faced by many ecosystems as habitat fragmentation and disease transport increase worldwide. By focusing on this host-vector-disease system we will isolate anthropogenic effects that influence disease emergence and resurgence. By carefully examining the modes and scales of contact within this complex community, we hope to discover the potential for ecological and epidemiological keystone effects of prairie dogs. This discovery will elucidate whether anthropogenic effects on ecological systems can have predictable consequences for disease transmission and dynamics.