Collaborative Proposal: Connectivity of Disease in Marine Ecosystems: Multi-scale Dynamics of a Viral Disease Infecting Caribbean Spiny Lobster

合作提案：海洋生态系统疾病的连通性：感染加勒比龙虾的病毒性疾病的多尺度动力学

• 批准号: 0928398
• 负责人: Donald Behringer
• 金额: $ 26.76万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0928398&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Proposal; Connectivity; Disease; Marine

Intellectual Merit: Scientists are struck by how different terrestrial epidemiology is from that in marine ecosystems, a crucial difference being the more rapid spread of diseases in the ocean due to the presumed absence of barriers to waterborne dispersal. Yet, the movement of pathogens in the sea and its importance to disease dynamics in marine metapopulations is virtually unstudied. Marine pathogens do spread among distant host populations, as demonstrated by dramatic epizootics, but is this common or demographically relevant? Nearly all studies of marine diseases treat such events as transitory, focusing instead on local disease dynamics. This approach suggests either that small-scale phenomena normally trump the influence of large-scale pathogen connectivity or, alternatively, that the dispersal of marine pathogens by highly motile adults or free-living waterborne pathogens is simply too intractable for empirical investigation. Yet, there is another unappreciated mechanism - dispersal by infected larvae. Most marine animals have life histories that include planktonic larvae, many of which are highly dispersive. If infected by pathogens, these "larval vectors" would provide an efficient mechanism for distributing pathogens at high concentrations directly into habitats where hosts dwell. Perhaps more so than passive, waterborne pathogens that are subject to rapid dilution and have no means of targeting distant hosts. The investigators in this collaborative study have new evidence that long-distance pathogen dispersal in the sea via infected meroplanktonic larvae is possible. The pathogen in question is an often lethal, pathogenic virus (PaV1;Panulirus argus virus 1) that infects the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus - a species broadly distributed throughout the Caribbean where it supports the most valuable fishery in the region. The investigators described the PaV1 virus in 1999 and since then have studied its pathology, epidemiology, transmission, and effects on juvenile lobster populations in the Florida Keys. While the focus of previous studies has been on local pathogen-host dynamics, PaV1 infections in lobsters are now confirmed in distant areas of the Caribbean (Belize, Mexico, St. Croix) in regions that are demographically linked only by dispersing larvae that spend 6 months in the open ocean. The researchers recently discovered that many lobster postlarvae recruiting to coastal nurseries in Florida are infected with PaV1, providing novel evidence for pathogen connectivity among distant host populations. Focusing on the spiny lobster-PaV1 virus association as a case study, this project is an ambitious program of laboratory, field, and modeling research whose broader implications will better the understanding of the importance of dispersal by infectious agents on the spread and maintenance of disease in marine populations. The project builds upon data and techniques developed with prior NSF sponsorship, and brings together partners in developing Caribbean nations with a multidisciplinary group of scientists with long-standing research programs in larval biology, biophysical and ecological modeling, crustacean biology, molecular biology, and the study of marine diseases. The study has three objectives:1) To investigate the dynamics and mechanisms of PaV1 infection of larvae and the effect of infection on larval behavior and mortality, which influence dispersal and demographic connectivity.(2) To examine the importance of large-scale connectivity by PaV1-infected postlarvae on the maintenance of local disease dynamics and patterns of disease prevalence at local scales.(3) To explore the ramifications of planktonic pathogens and the hydrodynamic environment on large scale patterns of disease connectivity.Broader Impacts: This project will result in significant cross-training of students and postdocs, participation by undergraduates in REU programs, and targeted workshops with fishermen and resource managers in Florida and the Caribbean. The project involves resource management personnel from developing Caribbean countries, ensuring that the results will find application in management impacting the Caribbean's most important fishery species. The continued development of advanced molecular and modeling techniques will also yield new assays for the detection of viral infection, and deeper insight into the role of disease and large-scale connectivity in metapopulation dynamics, respectively.

智力优势：科学家们对陆地流行病学与海洋生态系统中的流行病学的差异感到震惊，一个关键的区别是，由于假定没有水媒传播的障碍，疾病在海洋中传播得更快。然而，病原体在海洋中的运动及其对海洋集合种群疾病动态的重要性几乎没有研究。海洋病原体确实会在遥远的宿主群体中传播，正如戏剧性的动物流行病所证明的那样，但这是常见的还是与人口统计学相关的？几乎所有关于海洋疾病的研究都将这些事件视为暂时性的，而是集中在当地的疾病动态上。这种方法表明，小规模的现象通常胜过大规模的病原体连接的影响，或者，海洋病原体的传播高度能动的成年人或自由生活的水生病原体是太棘手的实证调查。然而，还有另一种未被认识的机制--被感染的幼虫传播。大多数海洋动物的生活史包括浮游幼虫，其中许多是高度分散的。如果被病原体感染，这些“幼虫媒介”将提供一种有效的机制，将高浓度的病原体直接传播到宿主居住的生境中。也许比被动的、水传播的病原体更能说明问题，因为水传播的病原体会被迅速稀释，而且没有办法瞄准遥远的宿主。 这项合作研究的研究人员有新的证据表明，病原体通过受感染的裂殖幼虫在海洋中长距离传播是可能的。所讨论的病原体是一种通常致命的致病病毒（PaV 1;Panulirus argus病毒1），感染加勒比海多刺龙虾Panulirus argus -这是一种广泛分布在加勒比海的物种，它支持该地区最有价值的渔业。研究人员在1999年描述了PaV 1病毒，从那时起研究了它的病理学，流行病学，传播和对佛罗里达群岛幼龙虾种群的影响。虽然以前的研究重点是当地的病原体-宿主动力学，但在加勒比海的偏远地区（伯利兹、墨西哥、圣克鲁瓦），在人口统计学上仅通过分散在公海中度过6个月的幼虫而联系在一起的地区，龙虾中的PaV 1感染现已得到证实。研究人员最近发现，许多在佛罗里达沿海苗圃招募的龙虾幼体感染了PaV 1，为遥远的宿主种群之间的病原体连接提供了新的证据。 该项目以多刺龙虾-PaV 1病毒协会为案例研究，是一项雄心勃勃的实验室、现场和建模研究计划，其更广泛的影响将更好地理解传染性病原体扩散对海洋种群疾病传播和维持的重要性。该项目建立在先前NSF赞助开发的数据和技术基础上，并将加勒比发展中国家的合作伙伴与多学科科学家小组聚集在一起，这些科学家在幼虫生物学，生物物理和生态建模，甲壳动物生物学，分子生物学和海洋疾病研究方面具有长期的研究计划。本研究的目的有三：1）研究PaV 1感染幼虫的动态和机制，以及感染对幼虫行为和死亡率的影响，进而影响幼虫的扩散和种群连接。(2)研究PaV 1感染后幼虫的大规模连接对维持当地疾病动态和当地规模疾病流行模式的重要性。(3)探索浮游病原体和水动力环境对大规模模式的疾病connections.Broader影响的后果：该项目将导致学生和博士后的重大交叉培训，本科生参与REU计划，并有针对性的研讨会与渔民和资源管理人员在佛罗里达和加勒比地区。该项目涉及来自加勒比发展中国家的资源管理人员，以确保其成果将应用于影响加勒比最重要渔业物种的管理。先进的分子和建模技术的持续发展也将产生用于检测病毒感染的新检测方法，并分别深入了解疾病和大规模连接在集合种群动态中的作用。