DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Migratory trade-offs: Immune defense balanced against reproductive and movement behaviors

主要活动需要使用大量的能源和个人资源的承诺。与此同时，动物需要能够应对可能出现的疾病和感染的挑战。这项研究将使用每年两次主要迁徙的帝王蝶来确定像迁徙这样的能量广泛事件是如何影响免疫系统应对挑战的能力的。黑脉金斑蝶（Danaus plexippus）是一种标志性的昆虫，它是世界上任何昆虫物种中距离最长的双向迁徙之一，每年从遥远的加拿大北部迁徙到墨西哥中部的越冬地点。该项目将以帝王蝶为模型，研究在整个年度迁徙周期中运动和繁殖对免疫的影响。由于迁徙动物的长途旅行和栖息地的多样性，它们对传染病的传播具有深远的影响，并可能携带已知的人类健康风险病原体，如西尼罗河病毒、禽流感病毒和埃博拉病毒。该项目将有助于提供一个框架，以确定迁徙物种在其年周期中可能最容易感染传染病的点。本论文项目之前已经确定，君主的免疫防御是资源有限的，不利于生长，并且与野外的迁徙距离有关。本文提出的研究将通过实验操纵繁殖和飞行来衡量它们对黑脉金斑蝶免疫防御成分的独立影响。一项实验将操纵生殖滞育（迁徙的前兆），以检验是否生殖成熟本身会降低宿主的防御能力，或者动物是否必须主动繁殖才能经历这些代价。第二个实验将模拟帝王蝶的主动飞行，并测量生殖和非生殖成年蝶免疫防御的变化。综合起来，这些研究将有助于确定这种和其他迁徙物种免疫变异的因素。这个跨学科项目借鉴了动物行为学、生理学、生态学和免疫学的概念和方法。迁徙的生理和行为机制仍在积极研究中，部分原因是最近在长距离追踪移动物种方面取得了进展。利用实验上易于处理的物种，这项工作将促进对免疫防御如何在整个年度迁徙周期中发生变化的一般理解，以及这如何取决于运动和繁殖的竞争需求。数据存储和共享：数据将存储在外部存储设备以及Odum生态学院的安全服务器空间上。此外，UGA图书馆维护数据存储的机构存储库。所有主要数据文件将作为制表符分隔的文本文件在Dryad数字存储库（http://datadryad.org/）上共享，同时发表或在完成拟议研究的两年内。由于这项工作涉及一种非模式昆虫物种，对研究生态免疫学和疾病生态学的研究人员有影响，因此合作pi将与生态免疫学研究协调网络（http://ccoon.myweb.usf.edu/ecoimmunology.org/About_Home.html）共享相关的实验信息（即优化的免疫测定方案）。

Major activities require the use of large amounts of energy and commitment of individual resources. At the same time animals need to be able to respond to the challenges of possible disease and infection. The research will use the monarch butterfly, which makes two major yearly migrations to determine how energy extensive events like migration impact the ability of the immune system to respond to challenges. Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are iconic insects that undergo one of the longest distance two-way migrations of any insect species in the world, traveling from as far North as Canada to overwintering sites in Central Mexico each year. Using monarchs as a model, this project will investigate the effects of movement and reproduction on immunity throughout the course of the annual migratory cycle. Because of their long journeys and coverage of diverse habitats, migratory animals have far-reaching implications for the spread of infectious diseases, and can harbor pathogens of known human health risks such as West Nile virus, avian influenza virus and Ebola virus. This project will help provide a framework for determining the points along their annual cycles that migratory species might be most vulnerable to infectious diseases. This dissertation project has previously established that immune defense in monarchs is resource-limited, trades-off against growth, and is associated with migratory distances in the wild. The study proposed here will experimentally manipulate reproduction and flight to measure their independent consequences for components of monarch immune defense. One experiment will manipulate reproductive diapause (a precursor to migration) to examine whether reproductive maturity alone lowers host defenses, or if animals must actively reproduce to experience these costs. A second experiment will mimic active flight in monarchs and measure resulting changes in immune defense for both reproductive and non-reproductive adults. In combination, these studies will help identify factors that underlie immune variation in this and other migratory species. This interdisciplinary project draws on concepts and methods from animal behavior, physiology, ecology and immunology. The physiological and behavioral mechanisms of migration remain under active study owing in part to recent advances in tracking mobile species over long distances. Using an experimentally tractable species, this work will advance general understanding of how immune defense can change throughout the annual migratory cycle and how this depends on competing demands of movement and reproduction.Data storage and sharing:Data will be stored on an external storage device as well as a secure server space in the Odum School of Ecology. In addition, UGA libraries maintain an institutional repository for data storage. All main data files will be shared as tab delimited text files at the Dryad Digital Repository (http://datadryad.org/) in conjunction with publication or within 2 years of completing the proposed research. Because the work involves a non-model insect species with implications for researchers studying ecoimmunology and disease ecology, the co-PIs will share pertinent experimental information (i.e. optimized immune assay protocols) with the Research Coordination Network in Ecoimmunology (http://ccoon.myweb.usf.edu/ecoimmunology.org/About_Home.html)