Systematics, Coevolution, and Microbial Community Structure of Bat Fleas (Siphonaptera: Ischnopsyllidae)

蝙蝠蚤的系统学、共同进化和微生物群落结构（管翅目：Ischnopsyllidae）

• 批准号: 1050793
• 负责人: Katharina Dittmar
• 金额: $ 30.49万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Buffalo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-02-01 至 2016-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1050793&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Systematics; Coevolution; Microbial; Community; Structure

Bats constitute nearly 25% of the diversity of all mammals. They have a global distribution, and are key players in diverse ecosystems. Like any other mammal, they are exposed to, and suffer from a range of parasites. Among these parasites are a group of bloodsucking insects - the bat fleas. Contrary to many other fleas, they are uniquely adapted to bats. Currently, even basic knowledge about these parasites is scarce. This grant sets out to remedy this problem by pursuing the following important goals: 1) for the first time comprehensive information about the development, diversity, global distribution, host association, and ecology of these fleas will be gathered, 2) the evolutionary history of bat fleas and the timing of their diversification will be explored, in the context of parallel evolution with their hosts, and 3) the previously unknown microbial diversity of bat fleas will be studied and linked across different parasite developmental stages and ecosystems, characterizing beneficial as well as potentially pathogenic bacteria. The results of these interdisciplinary studies will benefit a wide range of researchers (e.g. systematists, microbiologists, conservation biologists, parasitologists, epidemiologists). The proposed studies will enhance current knowledge about symbiosis, parasitism, co-evolution, and disease ecology, and will form the foundation for further research in these fields. This project will provide educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate student training in important research areas, such as parasitology, metagenomics and phylogenetics. Minority undergraduates will be especially recruited, and academic success of these students will be monitored by a novel mentoring approach, called "Research in Pairs". This approach centers on teaching students the value of ethics, communication, and mentoring while they are pursuing their own research projects.

蝙蝠占所有哺乳动物多样性的近25%。它们分布在全球，是不同生态系统的关键参与者。像任何其他哺乳动物一样，它们暴露在一系列寄生虫之下，并遭受寄生虫的折磨。在这些寄生虫中有一群吸血昆虫-蝙蝠跳蚤。与许多其他跳蚤相反，它们独特地适应蝙蝠。目前，甚至对这些寄生虫的基本知识也很缺乏。该赠款旨在通过实现以下重要目标来解决这一问题：1）首次收集有关这些跳蚤的发展，多样性，全球分布，宿主协会和生态学的全面信息，2）在与宿主平行进化的背景下，将探索蝙蝠跳蚤的进化历史及其多样化的时间，以及3）将研究蝙蝠跳蚤的以前未知的微生物多样性，并将其与不同寄生虫发育阶段和生态系统联系起来，表征有益细菌以及潜在致病细菌。这些跨学科研究的结果将使广泛的研究人员（例如系统学家，微生物学家，保护生物学家，寄生虫学家，流行病学家）受益。拟议的研究将加强目前的共生，寄生，共同进化和疾病生态学的知识，并将在这些领域的进一步研究奠定基础。该项目将为重要研究领域的研究生和本科生培训提供教育机会，如寄生虫学，宏基因组学和遗传学。少数民族本科生将被特别招募，这些学生的学业成绩将通过一种名为“结对研究”的新型辅导方法进行监测。这种方法的中心是教学生道德，沟通和指导的价值，而他们正在追求自己的研究项目。