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: 0928930
• 负责人: Mark Butler
• 金额: $ 57.35万
• 依托单位: Old Dominion University Research Foundation
• 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=0928930&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.

知识分子的优点：科学家对海洋生态系统的陆地流行病学的不同之处所震惊，这是由于假定缺乏水生散布的障碍而导致疾病在海洋中较快传播的关键差异。然而，实际上未研究海洋中病原体的运动及其对海洋载体中疾病动态的重要性。如戏剧性的Epizootics所证明的那样，海洋病原体确实在遥远的宿主种群中传播，但是这种常见还是人口统计学意义？几乎所有关于海洋疾病的研究都将诸如暂时性的事件视为局部疾病动态。这种方法表明，小规模现象通常胜过大规模病原体连通性的影响，或者，高度运动成年人对海洋病原体的分散或自由生活的水生病原体对经验研究实在太棘手了。然而，还有另一种不受影响的机制 - 被感染的幼虫分散。大多数海洋动物的生活历史包括浮游幼虫，其中许多是高度分散的。如果感染了病原体，这些“幼虫载体”将提供有效的机制，将高浓度的病原体直接分配到宿主居住的栖息地。也许比被动的病原体更重要，这些病原体会受到快速稀释且没有靶向遥远宿主的手段。 这项合作研究中的研究人员有新的证据表明，可以通过感染的Meroplanktonic幼虫在海中长途病原体扩散。所讨论的病原体是一种经常致命的致病病毒（PAV1； Panulirus argus病毒1），它感染了加勒比刺龙龙虾，Panulirus argus - 一种广泛分布在该地区最有价值渔业的物种。研究人员描述了1999年的PAV1病毒，此后研究了其病理学，流行病学，传播以及对佛罗里达群岛少年龙虾种群的影响。尽管先前研究的重点一直放在局部病原体宿主动力学上，但龙虾中的PAV1感染现在在加勒比海遥远地区（伯利兹，墨西哥，圣克鲁瓦）中得到证实，这些地区仅通过分散在开放大洋中花费6个月的幼虫的人口统计学联系。研究人员最近发现，佛罗里达州沿海托儿所的许多龙虾后训练均感染了PAV1，为遥远的宿主种群中的病原体连通性提供了新的证据。 该项目以案例研究为重点是一种雄心勃勃的实验室，领域和建模研究计划，其更广泛的含义将更好地理解传染病患者对海洋人群中疾病蔓延和维持的分散性的重要性。该项目建立在先前的NSF赞助方面开发的数据和技术，并汇集了与多学科的科学家群体开发加勒比国家的合作伙伴，并在幼虫生物学，生物物理学和生态建模，甲壳甲甲壳类生物学，分子生物学以及海洋疾病的研究中具有长期的研究计划。该研究具有三个目标：1）研究PAV1感染的动态和机制以及感染对幼虫行为和死亡率的影响，这会影响分散和人口统计学的连通性。（2）检查在PAV1所感染的后期疾病和疾病疾病动态的疾病动力学量表（3）疾病预期的大规模连通性的重要性（3）病原体和流体动力环境在大规模的疾病连通性方面。BROADER的影响：该项目将导致学生和博士后的大量交叉培训，本科生参与REU计划，以及针对佛罗里达州渔民和资源经理的针对性研讨会。该项目涉及来自发展加勒比海国家的资源管理人员，确保结果将在影响加勒比海最重要的渔业物种的管理中找到应用。晚期分子和建模技术的持续开发还将产生新的检测病毒感染的测定法，并分别对疾病和大规模连通性在跨化动力学中的作用和大规模连通性的更深入了解。