SG: Collaborative Research: The Role of Watering Holes in Concentrating Parasites in a Changing Climate

灌水点将大量野生动物和家养动物聚集在一起，形成了疾病传播的直接接口。鉴于当前的气候变化和水的不稳定，特别是在东非热带稀树大草原，了解水在不同季节和气候梯度上聚集动物及其寄生虫的程度尤为重要。该地区是世界上一些最具魅力的野生动物物种的家园，但它也是一个疾病热点，目前正在继续发展，并在野生动物区扩大牧场和养牛做法。该项目将寻求量化通过动物运动调节的供水点对寄生虫密度的影响，并了解气候和宿主社区如何在整个景观的供水点的疾病风险中发挥作用。该项目包括四个不同的组成部分，它们整合了广泛的观测调查、实验操作和数学建模。第一部分涉及对肯尼亚中部莱基皮亚县的20个大坝和控制点的调查，这些大坝和控制点跨越了陡峭的降雨梯度。将使用粪便调查、扁虱拖曳、相机诱捕、植被调查以及土壤和水分析来确定在雨季期间供水池和控制点的动物及其寄生虫的密度。第二个组件将利用野生动物和牛使用的配对水盘：每对水盘中的一个将被排干两个雨季，然后重新灌水，上面列出的所有调查都将在这次实验中重复进行。第三个组成部分将利用水源的动物围栏地块来确定大型哺乳动物的丧失对景观中寄生虫密度的影响。最后，用现场数据参数化的数学模型将被用来模拟粪口寄生虫在不同气候和不同季节对一系列宿主的传播。将测试水的可获得性和分配对动物运动和疾病流行的影响，为土地管理者和科学家提供关于水、宿主和寄生虫的复杂系统的宝贵见解。

Watering points draw together an enormous range of wildlife and domestic animals, forming a direct interface for disease transmission. Understanding the degree to which water aggregates animals and their parasites across seasons and climate gradients is particularly important in light of current climate change and water instability, particularly in the East African tropical savanna. This region is home to some of the world's most charismatic wildlife species, but it is also a disease hotspot that is currently undergoing continued development and expanded ranching and cattle practices in wildlife zones. This project will seek to quantify the effect of watering points on parasite density, as mediated by animal movement, and to understand how climate and host community play a role in disease risk at water points across the landscape. The project entails four distinct components that integrate extensive observational surveys, experimental manipulations, and mathematical modelling. The first component involves a survey of 20 dams and control sites across a steep rainfall gradient in Laikipia County, central Kenya. Dung surveys, tick drags, camera trapping, vegetation surveys, and soil and water analyses will be used to determine the density of animals and their parasites at both watering holes and control sites over rainfall seasons. The second component will utilize paired water pans used by wildlife and cattle: one water pan in each pair will be drained for two rainfall seasons before being refilled, and all surveys listed above will be repeated for this experiment. The third component will utilize animal exclosure plots at water sources to determine the effect of large mammal loss on parasite density in the landscape. Finally, mathematical models parameterized with field data will be used to simulate the transmission of fecal-oral parasites over different climates and seasons for a range of hosts. The effect of water availability and distribution on animal movement and disease prevalence will be tested, providing valuable insight to both land managers and scientists on the complex system of water, hosts, and parasites.