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

对于许多威胁人类健康、农业和野生动物保护的最具破坏性的传染病，制定控制和预防策略的两个关键是确定和预测病原体的分布。了解遗传和环境因素对疾病分布的影响，对预测传染病影响人群的方式有很大帮助。研究人员将通过使用高山植物的花药黑穗病作为自然模型系统来测试这些因素在自然界中的相对重要性。这种病原体仅在欧洲高海拔地区发现，尽管在低海拔地区有大量的宿主。田间移植结合实验性引进的疾病将被用来测试其传播在低海拔和高海拔的差异，并了解其限制高海拔的因素。研究人员将能够测试疾病传播和分布的理论，而对商业，农业或人类健康几乎没有风险。这些结果将产生关于宿主-病原体相互作用如何影响自然种群的关键见解，并将有助于为有关现有和新出现的传染病传播的预测提供信息。此外，这项研究将影响高山物种海拔分布变化的解释，这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。这项研究将扩大几项正在进行的合作，特别是与国外科学家的合作。此外，由于这些实验位于一个访问量很大的公共植物园内，它们将继续有助于提高公众对疾病生物学的认识。

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.