DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Ecological and Evolutionary Determinants of Disease Distribution in a Natural Host-Pathogen System

为威胁人类健康、农业和野生动物保护的许多最具破坏性的传染病制定控制和预防战略的两个关键是确定和预测病原体的分布。通过了解遗传和环境因素对疾病分布的影响，预测传染病对人群的影响方式将大大有助于预测。研究人员将使用高山植物的花药黑穗病作为自然模式系统来测试这些因素在自然界中的相对重要性。这种病原体只在整个欧洲的高海拔地区发现，尽管在低海拔地区寄主丰富。田间移植结合疾病的实验介绍将被用来测试其在低海拔和高海拔传播的差异，并了解导致其限制在高海拔地区的因素。研究人员将能够在对商业、农业或人类健康几乎没有风险的情况下测试疾病传播和分布的理论。这些结果将对宿主-病原体相互作用如何影响自然人口产生关键见解，并将有助于预测现有和新出现的传染病的传播。此外，这项研究将影响对高山物种海拔分布变化的解释，高山物种是全球气候变化的非常敏感的指标。该项目为本科生提供了获得研究经验和学术培训的机会。这项研究将允许扩大几个正在进行的合作，特别是与海外科学家的合作。此外，由于这些实验位于一个参观人数较多的公共植物园内，它们将继续为提高公众对疾病生物学的认识做出贡献。

Two keys to developing control and prevention strategies for many of the most damaging infectious diseases threatening human health, agriculture, and wildlife conservation are determining and predicting the distribution of pathogens. Predicting the way infectious diseases will affect populations is greatly helped by understanding the contributions of both genetic and environmental factors to disease distribution. The investigators will test the relative importance of these factors in nature by using the anther-smut disease of alpine plants as a natural model system. This pathogen is found only at high altitudes across Europe, despite the abundance of hosts at lower elevations. Field transplants combined with experimental introduction of the disease will be used to test differences in its spread at low and high elevations, and to understand the factors responsible for its restriction to high elevations. The researchers will be able to test theories of disease spread and distribution with virtually no risk to commerce, agriculture, or human health. The results will yield key insights into how host-pathogen interactions affect natural populations, and will help to inform predictions concerning the spread of existing and emerging infectious diseases. Furthermore, the study will influence interpretations of changes in elevational distribution of alpine species, which are very sensitive indicators of global climate change. This project provides opportunities for undergraduate students to gain research experience and academic training. The research will allow expansion of several ongoing collaborations, particularly with scientists abroad. In addition, because these experiments are located within a highly-visited public botanic garden they will continue to contribute to raising public awareness about disease biology.