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

来自加州大学洛杉矶分校、旧金山州立大学、喷气推进实验室/NASA、加州大学戴维斯分校和立陶宛维尔纽斯大学生态学研究所的研究人员将进行一项关于森林砍伐对非洲雨林鸟类传染病传播影响的研究。在过去的13年里，研究人员从喀麦隆、科特迪瓦和乌干达的各种栖息地的200多种热带雨林鸟类中收集了4000多个个体血液样本。值得注意的是，这些样本是在栖息地退化之前和之后收集的，允许对人类引起的栖息地改变的直接影响进行独特的检查。将利用血液涂片分析和分子生物学相辅相成的技术，对样本进行检测，以确定引起疟疾、锥虫病、丝虫病和结核病的病原体。鸟类的这些疾病与人类疾病的病理非常相似，这使得鸟类研究成为一个很好的模型系统。我们将使用卫星图像数据来预测森林成分的变化未来可能如何影响疾病的传播。森林砍伐对健康的影响是多种多样的，并且随着最近由动物传播给人类的几种疾病的爆发而得到高度宣传，这种影响变得越来越明显。这个研究项目意义重大，因为它将开发模型来预测森林砍伐将如何影响未来的疾病爆发，并促进制定重新造林战略。此外，这项研究还将包括在美国为少数民族服务的机构以及在立陶宛和非洲的海外机构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.