DISSERTATION RESEARCH:Understanding effects on climate change on parasitism in small mammals

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A surprising large percentage of human mortality is caused by infectious disease. Understanding patters of parasite diversity and the dynamics of disease transmission is critical. Little is currently known about how climate alters basic patterns of parasite distribution and diversity. This project will use changes from low to high elevations on a mountain to mimic climate change. The research will describe the distribution of parasites and examine the factors affecting parasite diversity along this gradient. Results will link climate change, parasite diversity, and disease. The project will advance public health and policy efforts to reduce risks that disease will increase with climate change. The National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution will host publicly available databases that will facilitate future studies in a region of high species diversity. The research will strengthen collaborations with Kenyan researchers and will engage American students in field work. The investigators will also collaborate with the California Alliance for Minority Participation to mentor students from economically disadvantaged and otherwise under-represented groups in data analysis and disease ecology.This project will explore how climate driven changes in host diet, diversity, and density affect parasitism. Results will contribute to the predictive framework needed to understand how climate change will affect wildlife and their parasites. The investigators will use previously-collected samples from 30 species of small mammals to quantify each host's diet and gastrointestinal parasite community. Samples were collected along an elevational gradient on Mount Kenya that approximates changes in abiotic conditions expected with climate change. Parasites will be counted and identified and a subset will be barcoded to identify cryptic and novel species. Host diet and trophic level will be determined using ä15N stable isotope chemistry and validated with compound specific stable isotope analyses and visual inspection of host gut contents. Controlling for host abundance and diversity, these data will then be used to test if long-recognized patterns in free-living species richness apply to parasite richness along elevational gradients. The mechanisms responsible for patterns in parasite diversity will be explored by examining how host diet, diversity, and density affect parasite richness. Climatic gradients are expected to alter both parasite diversity and the number of parasites per host (intensity). The relative importance of biotic elevation effects (host density, diversity and diet) on parasite intensity will be examined for parasites that occur in hosts abundant at multiple elevations. This analysis will be repeated across multiple parasites to test the generality of parasite responses to changing host and climatic conditions.