EAGER: Blood Parasite Infections in Fishes and Their Transmission by Gnathiid Isopods on Caribbean Coral Reefs.

海洋覆盖了地球的大部分，蕴藏着地球的大部分-S的生物量和多样性，包括在所谓的海洋热带雨林中发现的珊瑚礁，它比任何其他生态系统支持更多的物种。目前对珊瑚礁系统疾病的研究主要集中在珊瑚和海绵，它们是珊瑚礁的主要无脊椎动物建筑师，以及这些疾病如何导致这类生物的发病率和死亡率，进而导致群落结构的重大变化。然而，据估计，珊瑚礁上80%的生物是寄生虫，就像陆地系统一样，包括许多节肢动物。动物寄生虫和疾病的研究历来是病理学家、兽医学家和畜牧业专业人士的研究领域，同时也引起了一些进化生物学家的注意。鉴于寄生是最常见的动物生活方式，而且许多疾病要么是由寄生虫引起的，要么是由寄生虫传播的，因此，令人惊讶的是，从历史上看，很少有生态学家和环境生物学家研究这种联系。然而，近年来，人们对生态学和疾病生物学之间的接口产生了相当大的兴趣：了解生物和非生物环境因素之间的联系，以及疾病及其媒介的动态。因此，特别需要对海洋系统进行研究，以实现对疾病生态的全面和平衡的了解。可以说，其中最具生态重要性的是节肢等足目动物。它们是底栖浮游动物群落的普通成员，是珊瑚鱼的主要体外寄生虫，也是清洁生物的主要食物。与陆地上以血液为食的对应物(例如扁虱和蚊子)一样，它们被证明可以将原生动物寄生虫传播给鱼类宿主。该项目的最终目标是了解珊瑚礁底栖群落结构和宿主密度的变化对体外寄生的节肢动物丰度的影响、节肢动物对鱼类宿主的人均侵扰风险以及加勒比地区鱼类宿主的原生动物和其他疾病的流行情况。首席调查人员建议确定加勒比地区血吸虫原生动物的宿主范围，并检验加勒比地区节肢等足目动物也传播它们这一重要假设。更广泛的影响：这项研究将支持本科生和本科生以及他们在多个机构中的互动，包括阿肯色州立大学琼斯伯勒分校、维尔京群岛大学和波多黎各大学。它将进一步加强与美属维尔京群岛和波多黎各当地资源管理人员和K-12学校的现有关系，并将为当地经济作出贡献。最后，它将促进与南非和英国科学家的合作。

The ocean covers most of the planet and harbors most of the Earth?s biomass and diversity, including that found within the so-called 'rainforests of the sea', coral reefs, that supports more species per area than any other ecological system. Current research on diseases in coral reef systems focuses primarily on corals and sponges, the major invertebrate architects of reefs, and how these diseases contribute to morbidity and mortality of such organisms, causes that in turn result in major shifts in community structure. Yet an estimated 80% of the organisms on coral reefs are parasites, which, like terrestrial systems, include many arthropods. The study of animal parasites and diseases has historically been the realm of pathologists, veterinary scientists, and animal husbandry professionals, while at the same time attracting the attention of some evolutionary biologists. Given that parasitism is the most common animal lifestyle and that many diseases are either caused or transmitted by parasites, it is therefore surprising that, historically, few ecologists and environmental biologists have addressed the links among such. However, there has been considerable interest in recent years in the interface between ecology and disease biology: understanding the link between biotic and abiotic environmental factors and the dynamics of diseases and their vectors. Thus, research in marine systems is particularly needed to achieve a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the ecology of diseases. Arguably the most ecologically important among these are gnathiid isopods. Common members of the benthic zooplankton community, they are the major ectoparasite of reef fishes and main food item for cleaner organisms. As with their terrestrial blood-feeding counterparts (e.g., ticks and mosquitoes), they have been shown to transmit protozoan parasites to fish hosts. The ultimate goal of this project is to understand the effects of changes in benthic community structure of coral reefs and host density on the abundance of ectoparasitic gnathiid isopods, the per capita risk of infestation of gnathiids on fish hosts, and the prevalence of protozoan and other diseases of fish hosts in the Caribbean. The principal investigators propose to determine the range of Caribbean hosts for haemogregarine protozoans and test the important assumption that Caribbean gnathiid isopods also transmit them. Broader Impacts: This research will support undergraduate and undergraduate students and their interactions within multiple institutions, including Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, University of the Virgin Islands, and University of Puerto Rico. It will further build on existing relationships with local US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico resource managers and K-12 schools and will contribute to their local economies. Finally, it will foster collaboration with scientists in South Africa and the United Kingdom.