Collaborative Research: Disease at the margins of species ranges: anther-smut on alpine species

传染病对人类和农业可能是毁灭性的，但人们对疾病如何影响自然人口知之甚少。这项研究将调查真菌疾病花药黑穗病对高山植物分布的影响，并将作为评估不育性疾病如何影响自然种群的模型。这项研究将在一个许多物种遭受严重疾病侵扰的地区进行，在多个山谷中有陡峭的环境梯度，从而能够在物种分布的边缘对影响疾病过程的因素进行系统研究。遗传和生态学实验、理论模型和长期监测将调查疾病如何影响物种范围的限制，以及边缘种群如何通过宿主物种之间的感染传播成为疾病出现的焦点。这项研究将加强国际合作，支持当地的保护努力，并为研究人员和本科生提供传染病生物学的实地课程、培训和实践研究经验。阿尔卑斯山地区本身就是受到气候变化严重威胁的脆弱环境，这项研究将建立管理这些植物群落所必需的基线信息，以应对该地区正在发生的疾病和快速环境变化。

Infectious diseases can be devastating to humans and agriculture, but much less is known about how disease affects natural populations. This study will investigate the impact of a fungal disease, anther-smut, on the distribution of alpine plants, and will serve as a model for assessing how sterilizing diseases affect natural populations. The study will be carried out in an area where there is heavy disease infestation on many species, and steep environmental gradients in multiple valleys, enabling systematic studies of the factors that influence disease processes at the margins of species distributions. Genetic and ecological experiments, theoretical models, and long-term monitoring will investigate how disease affects the limits of species' ranges and how marginal populations may be foci for disease emergence through transmission of infections between host species. This research will enhance international collaborations, support local conservation efforts, and provide a field course, training and hands-on research experience in infectious disease biology for researchers and undergraduate students. Alpine regions are themselves fragile environments severely threatened by climate change and this study will establish baseline information essential for managing these plant communities in relation to disease and the rapid environmental changes that are occurring in this area.