EID: Effects of Deforestation on the Prevalence of Blood-Borne Pathogens in African Rainforest Birds.

加州大学洛杉矶分校、弗朗西斯科州立大学、喷气推进实验室/美国航天局、加州大学戴维斯分校和立陶宛维尔纽斯大学生态研究所的研究人员将进行一项关于砍伐森林对非洲雨林鸟类传染病传播的影响的研究。在过去的13年里，研究人员从喀麦隆，象牙海岸和乌干达的各种栖息地的200多种雨林鸟类中收集了4,000多份血液样本。值得注意的是，这些样本是从生境退化之前和之后的地点收集的，可以对人类引起的生境改变的直接影响进行独特的检查。使用血涂片分析和分子生物学的补充技术，将对样本进行疟疾、锥虫病、丝虫病和结核病病原体的分析。鸟类的这些疾病与人类的疾病具有非常相似的病理学，使鸟类研究成为一个很好的模型系统。我们将利用卫星图像数据预测森林组成的变化如何影响未来疾病的传播。 砍伐森林对健康的影响多种多样，随着最近几种由动物传播给人类的疾病的爆发得到高度报道，这种影响变得越来越明显。这一研究项目意义重大，因为它将建立模型，预测森林砍伐将如何影响未来的疾病爆发，并促进重新造林战略的制定。 此外，研究将涉及在美国为少数民族服务的机构以及在立陶宛和非洲的国外培训学生和研究人员。

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, San Francisco State University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA, the University of California, Davis, and the Institute of Ecology at Vilnius University, Lithuania, will conduct a study of the effects of deforestation on the spread of infectious diseases in African rainforest birds. During the past 13 years, researchers have collected more than 4,000 individual blood samples from over 200 rainforest bird species in a variety of habitats across Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and Uganda. Significantly, the samples were collected from sites both before and after habitat degradation, permitting a unique examination of the direct effects of human-induced habitat alterations. Using complementary techniques of blood smear analysis and molecular biology, samples will be assayed for the pathogens that cause malaria, trypanosomiasis, filiariasis, and tuberculosis. These diseases in birds have very similar pathologies to their human counterparts, making the study of birds an excellent model system. We will use satellite imagery data to predict how changes in forest composition may affect the spread of diseases in the future. The effects of deforestation on health are diverse and are becoming increasingly apparent with the highly publicized recent outbreaks of several diseases spread to humans by animals. This research project is significant because it will develop models to predict how deforestation will influence future disease outbreaks and facilitate development of reforestation strategies. In addition, the research will involve the training of students and researchers at U.S. institutions serving minorities, and abroad, in Lithuania and Africa.