Fear, Food, and Infections: Linking Host Behavior to Disease Transmission in the Ranavirus-Salamander System

杰西·L·布伦纳，提案EF-0914418，恐惧、食物和感染：将宿主行为与拉纳病毒-火蜥蜴系统中的疾病传播联系起来。详细了解传染病是如何传播的，是预测传染病是否会入侵、持续和传播以及设计控制策略的关键。然而，我们对传输在现实世界系统中是如何工作的知之甚少。我们目前的许多理解都源于假设宿主之间随机接触的模型，就像化学反应中的分子碰撞一样。动物不是分子；它们交配、觅食、打架和成群，这些行为会推动疾病的传播。该项目将使用火蜥蜴病毒模型系统和简单的数学模型来评估常见的宿主行为，如觅食和躲避捕食者，如何影响传播动力学。有人建议通过实验来评估某些宿主行为(例如，通过引入捕食者)如何影响病毒在种群中的传播。例如，有人会预测，当动物聚集在一起面对捕食者时，疾病传播将会增加。或者，当宿主减少活动时(例如，当隐藏时)，传播可能会变慢。这项研究将为疾病传播的预测性、基于行为的理论提供基础。这项研究还可能带来干预疾病暴发的新方法(例如，通过仔细安排食物资源或躲避捕食者)。调查员将为学生和野生动物专业人员提供关于野生动物疾病流行病学和建模的短期讲习班，并在行为生态学、疾病生态学、流行病学和统计学以及实验室和现场方法方面培训本科生和研究生研究人员。

Jesse L. Brunner, Proposal EF- 0914418, Fear, Food, and Infections: Linking Host Behavior to Disease Transmission in the Ranavirus-Salamander System.Detailed knowledge of how infectious agents are transmitted is key to predicting whether an infectious disease will invade, persist, and spread, and to designing control strategies.. Yet we know very little about how transmission works in real world systems. Much of our present understanding stems from models that assume hosts contact each other randomly, like molecules colliding in a chemical reaction. Animals are not molecules; they mate, forage, fight, and flock, and these behaviors can drive the spread of disease. This project will use a salamander-virus model system coupled with simple mathematical models to evaluate how common host behaviors, such as foraging for food and avoiding predators, shape transmission dynamics. Experiments are proposed to evaluate how certain host behaviors (e.g., by introducing a predator) influence the spread of a virus through the population. For instance, one would predict that when animals aggregate together in the face of a predator, disease transmission will increase. Alternatively, when hosts reduce their movements (e.g., when hiding) transmission may slow.This study will provide the foundation for a predictive, behavior-based theory of disease transmission. This study may also lead to novel ways of intervening in disease outbreaks (e.g., by carefully arranging food resources or refuges from predators). The investigator will offer short workshops on wildlife disease epidemiology and modeling to students and wildlife professionals, and train undergraduate and graduate researchers in behavioral ecology, disease ecology, epidemiology and statistics, as well as in laboratory and field methods.