RCN: Evaluating the Impacts of a Changing Ocean on Management and Ecology of Infectious Marine Disease

海洋生物的传染病正在增加，但在海洋系统中，控制宿主传染性、病原菌毒力和无脊椎动物-微生物相互作用的过程却知之甚少。人类活动引起的即将发生的海洋变化可能会影响海洋疾病的流行和严重程度。在2011年2月召开的海洋传染病生态学研讨会上，讨论了提高我们对疾病生态学和气候变化对海洋系统影响的理解的几种方法。讲习班的一项主要建议是加强海洋研究人员和相关领域之间的协作和能力建设。加强科学学科之间的合作，包括自然、物理和社会科学(如生态学、微生物学、海洋学、经济学、通信学)，将极大地促进我们对海洋疾病以及气候变化可能如何影响海洋疾病动态的理解。该项目将提高科学家和管理人员预测和应对海洋疾病暴发的能力，最终为如何加强海洋系统的健康和复原力提供决策依据。对公众对风险的认知的研究还将提出将这项研究应用于减少与海洋疾病相关的人为应激源的方法。这里所述的研究协调网络项目是为响应这些建议而制定的，其两项主要活动如下：讲习班--区域协调网络参与者每年举行五次聚会，讨论具体的网络目标，包括1)疾病暴发与气候变化和酸化的联系，2)模拟气候和疾病协同作用的经济后果，3)海洋疾病诊断的进展，4)疾病传播中的重要海洋学因素，5)海洋变暖和热带疾病。研究培训模块-两个为期五周的动手研究培训模块将为研究生和博士后参与者提供跨学科培训，内容包括1)现场疾病调查，2)病原体培养和诊断，以及3)宿主免疫生物化学。然后，学生们将在小组项目中将这些方法应用于关于疾病动力学的生态学问题，包括温度和酸碱度的影响，这些项目将在年度RCN研讨会上公布。RCN参与者的多样性，包括研究生、初级科学家和女性科学家，支持了NSF促进STEM领域多样性的目标。讲习班将涉及利益攸关方的广泛代表性，包括代表性不足的群体(例如，普吉特湾地区的美洲原住民)，以更好地了解和解决他们的关切。将开发一个区域资源中心网站，其中包括出版物和介绍，这将有助于更广泛地传播从区域区域网络活动中获得的知识。我们还将与科学和海洋传播伙伴关系(COMPASS)以及其他地方和国家媒体合作，宣传我们的活动和调查结果。来自RCN的信息还可以与几个与气候变化和海洋有关的新兴联邦政策倡议保持一致，例如国家海洋政策和国家鱼类、野生动物和植物气候适应战略。此外，我们将与谷歌海洋合作开发交互式全球海洋疾病相关地图。海洋疾病暴发在空间上的明确性质，加上我们区域中心的专业知识，提供了一个极好的机会，可以在这个广泛和可访问的平台上绘制这些事件的地图。

Infectious diseases of marine organisms are increasing, and yet processes governing host infectivity, pathogen virulence and invertebrate-microbial interactions are poorly understood in marine systems. Impending ocean changes due to human activities are likely to impact the prevalence and severity of marine diseases. During an NSF-OCE convened Ecology of Marine Infectious Disease workshop in February 2011 several ways to increase our understanding of disease ecology and the impacts of climate change in marine systems were discussed. A primary recommendation of the workshop was for increased collaboration and capacity building among marine researchers and related fields. Greater collaboration across scientific disciplines, including natural, physical and social sciences (e.g. ecology, microbiology, oceanography, economics, communications) will greatly advance our understanding of marine disease and how climate change may impact disease dynamics in the ocean. This project will increase the ability of scientists and managers to predict and respond to marine disease outbreaks, ultimately informing decisions on how to enhance the health and resilience of marine systems. The research into public perceptions of risks will also suggest ways to apply this research to reducing anthropogenic stressors associated with marine disease. The Research Coordination Network (RCN) project described here was developed in response to these recommendations and the two primary activities are as follows: Workshops - Five annual gatherings of RCN participants will address specific network goals, including 1) linkages of disease outbreaks with climate change and acidification, 2) modeling economic consequences of climate and disease synergisms, 3) advances in marine disease diagnostics, 4) oceanographic factors important in disease transmission, 5) warming oceans and tropical disease. Research Training Module - Two five-week hands-on research training modules will provide cross disciplinary training to graduate and postdoctoral participants in 1) field disease surveys, 2) pathogen culture and diagnostics, and 3) host immune biochemistry. The students will then apply these methods to ecological questions about disease dynamics, including the effects of temperature and pH, in group projects that will be presented at the annual RCN workshops. The diversity of participants in this RCN, including graduate students, junior scientists, and female scientists, supports the NSF goal of promoting diversity in the STEM fields. The workshops will involve a broad representation of stakeholders, including underrepresented groups (e.g. Native Americans in the Puget Sound region), to better understand and address their concerns. An RCN website will be developed and include access to publications and presentations that will aid in the broader dissemination of knowledge garnered from RCN activities. We will also work with the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS) as well as other local and national media outlets to publicize our activities and findings. Information from the RCN could also align with several emerging federal policy initiatives related to climate change and oceans such as the National Ocean Policy and the National Fish, Wildlife, & Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy. Additionally, we will work with Google Ocean to develop interactive global marine-disease related maps. The spatially explicit nature of marine disease outbreaks, coupled with the expertise within our RCN, provides an excellent opportunity to map these events on this broad and accessible platform.