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: 0929086
• 负责人: Jeffrey Shields
• 金额: $ 30.29万
• 依托单位: College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science
• 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=0929086&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.

智力价值：科学家们对陆地流行病学与海洋生态系统的不同之处感到震惊，一个关键的区别是，由于假定没有水中传播的障碍，疾病在海洋中的传播更快。然而，病原体在海洋中的移动及其对海洋集合种群中疾病动态的重要性几乎没有被研究过。正如戏剧性的流行性疾病所证明的那样，海洋病原体确实在遥远的宿主群体中传播，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类事件视为暂时性的，而是专注于局部疾病的动态。这一方法表明，要么是小规模现象通常胜过大规模病原体连通性的影响，要么是海洋病原体通过高度活动的成虫或自由生活的水媒病原体传播对于实证研究来说太难了。然而，还有另一种不为人知的机制--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，将病原体以高浓度直接传播到寄主居住的栖息地。也许比被动的、水传播的病原体更有可能，这些病原体受到快速稀释，无法针对远处的宿主。在这项合作研究中，研究人员有新的证据表明，病原体通过受感染的浮游幼虫在海洋中远距离传播是可能的。所述病原体是一种往往致命的致病病毒(PaV1；Panulirus Argus Virus 1)，感染加勒比带刺龙虾Panulirus Argus--该物种广泛分布于整个加勒比地区，支持该区域最有价值的渔业。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、流行病学、传播以及对佛罗里达群岛龙虾幼体种群的影响。虽然以前的研究重点放在当地病原体-宿主动态上，但现在在加勒比海偏远地区(伯利兹、墨西哥、圣克罗伊岛)证实了龙虾感染PaV1病毒的情况，这些地区在人口统计上只有通过传播在公海中度过6个月的幼虫才能联系在一起。研究人员最近发现，许多招募到佛罗里达州沿海托儿所的龙虾幼体感染了PaV1，为远距离宿主群体之间的病原体联系提供了新的证据。这个项目以刺龙虾-PaV1病毒关联为案例研究，是一个雄心勃勃的实验室、现场和模拟研究计划，其更广泛的影响将更好地理解传染病病原体传播对海洋种群中疾病传播和维持的重要性。该项目建立在美国国家科学基金会先前赞助下开发的数据和技术的基础上，并将加勒比发展中国家的合作伙伴与一个多学科的科学家小组聚集在一起，这些科学家长期从事幼虫生物学、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方面的研究项目。这项研究有三个目的：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，从而影响传播和人口连通性。(2)检查PaV1感染后幼虫的大规模连通性对维持当地疾病动态和局部尺度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疾病连通性模式的影响。更广泛的影响：该项目将导致学生和博士后的显著交叉培训，本科生参与REU项目，并与佛罗里达州和加勒比海的渔民和资源经理举行有针对性的研讨会。该项目有来自加勒比发展中国家的资源管理人员参与，确保成果应用于对加勒比最重要的渔业物种产生影响的管理。先进的分子和建模技术的不断发展也将分别为病毒感染的检测和对疾病和大规模连通性在集合种群动态中的作用提供新的分析方法。