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

供水点聚集了大量的野生动物和家畜，形成了疾病传播的直接界面。鉴于目前的气候变化和水的不稳定性，特别是在东非热带稀树草原，了解水在不同季节和气候梯度下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，目前正在野生动物区持续发展和扩大牧场和养牛活动。该项目将寻求量化供水点对寄生虫密度的影响，通过动物运动介导，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，整合了广泛的观测调查，实验操作和数学建模。第一部分是对肯尼亚中部莱基皮亚县20个水坝和控制点的调查。粪便调查、蜱虫拖曳、相机诱捕、植被调查以及土壤和水分析将用于确定降雨季节在水坑和控制地点的动物及其寄生虫密度。第二部分将利用野生动物和牛使用的成对水盘：每对中的一个水盘将在两个降雨季节排水，然后重新填充，并且将重复上述所有调查。第三个组成部分将利用水源处的动物围封地块，以确定大型哺乳动物的损失对景观中寄生虫密度的影响。最后，将使用现场数据参数化的数学模型来模拟一系列宿主在不同气候和季节的粪口寄生虫传播。将测试水的可用性和分布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.