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.

知识价值：科学家们被陆地流行病学与海洋生态系统的差异所震惊，一个关键的区别是疾病在海洋中的传播速度更快，因为人们认为海洋中没有阻碍水传播的屏障。然而，病原体在海洋中的运动及其对海洋超种群疾病动态的重要性实际上尚未得到研究。海洋病原体确实在遥远的宿主种群中传播，正如戏剧性的动物流行病所证明的那样，但这是普遍现象还是与人口统计学有关？几乎所有关于海洋疾病的研究都将这些事件视为暂时的，而将重点放在局部疾病动态上。这种方法表明，要么是小规模现象通常胜过大规模病原体连通性的影响，要么是海洋病原体由高度活跃的成虫或自由生活的水媒病原体传播太难以处理，无法进行实证调查。然而，还有另一种未被认识的机制——受感染的幼虫的传播。大多数海洋动物的生命史都包括浮游生物幼虫，其中许多是高度分散的。如果被病原体感染，这些“幼虫载体”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栖息地。也许比被动的水传播病原体更重要，后者容易被迅速稀释，无法靶向远距离宿主。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浮游生物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是致命的致病性病毒（PaV1; argus Panulirus virus 1），它感染了加勒比大龙虾Panulirus argus，这是一种在整个加勒比地区广泛分布的物种，它支持着该地区最有价值的渔业。研究人员在1999年描述了PaV1病毒，从那时起，他们研究了它的病理学、流行病学、传播以及对佛罗里达群岛幼年龙虾种群的影响。虽然以前的研究重点是当地的病原体-宿主动力学，但目前在加勒比偏远地区（伯利兹，墨西哥，圣克罗伊岛）的龙虾中确认了PaV1感染，这些地区在人口统计学上仅通过分散幼虫在公海中度过6个月而联系起来。研究人员最近发现，许多在佛罗里达州沿海托儿所招募的龙虾幼虫都感染了PaV1，这为远距离宿主种群之间的病原体连通性提供了新的证据。该项目以棘龙虾- pav1病毒关联为研究对象，是一个雄心勃勃的实验室、实地和建模研究项目，其更广泛的影响将更好地理解传染性病原体传播对海洋种群中疾病传播和维持的重要性。该项目以美国国家科学基金会先前赞助开发的数据和技术为基础，将加勒比发展中国家的合作伙伴与具有幼虫生物学、生物物理和生态建模、甲壳类生物学、分子生物学和海洋疾病研究等长期研究项目的多学科科学家小组聚集在一起。本研究的目的有三个：1)研究PaV1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，从而影响传播和种群连通性。(2)研究pav1感染后幼虫的大尺度连通性对维持当地疾病动态和当地疾病流行模式的重要性。(3)探讨浮游病原体和水动力环境对大尺度疾病连通性模式的影响。更广泛的影响：该项目将对学生和博士后进行重要的交叉培训，使本科生参与REU项目，并与佛罗里达州和加勒比地区的渔民和资源管理人员进行有针对性的研讨会。该项目涉及加勒比发展中国家的资源管理人员，确保成果将应用于影响加勒比最重要渔业品种的管理。先进分子和建模技术的持续发展也将产生新的检测病毒感染的方法，以及对疾病和大规模连接在元种群动力学中的作用的更深入的了解。