Collaborative Research: How do shifts from migratory to sedentary behavior alter host-parasite dynamics?

每年，数十亿的动物长途迁徙。如果带有寄生虫的动物不太可能到达目的地，那么迁徙可能会使种群逃离寄生虫随着时间的推移而积累的栖息地。了解动物迁徙如何影响疾病传播对于预测疾病风险（包括对人类的风险）非常重要。本研究的重点是帝王蝶作为一个模型系统，并探讨了寄生虫对蝴蝶种群迁移和人口，最近失去了他们的迁移习惯的影响。这项研究还将研究非迁移人口如何影响他们聚集在一起的地区的迁移形式的寄生虫的风险。实地和实验研究还将研究这些微观寄生虫如何影响蝴蝶的寿命和飞行能力。 通过君主的高知名度和公众呼吁，该项目将支持公民科学家在大陆范围内的参与。研究人员还将指导和培训本科生和研究生，并将开发基于网络和课堂的关于宿主-寄生虫关系和动物迁移的教育材料。这项工作将为中学生提供额外的机会，并支持k-12活动。最后，这项工作将为保护帝王蝶的努力以及我们对迁移如何影响许多系统中寄生虫重要性的理解提供信息。 利用帝王蝶和原生动物寄生虫系统，本研究的目的是研究迁徙和久坐行为如何影响感染的传播风险和严重程度。研究活动将包括：㈠对全大陆公民科学数据库进行分析，以监测帝王蝶的数量和感染情况; ㈡进行实地和实验研究，以测试帝王蝶的迁徙行为如何取决于非本地乳草和感染状况，并量化寄生虫的传播率; ㈢进行分子基因组学研究，以了解定居种群的基因变化是否会加剧迁徙行为的丧失;以及（iv）数学建模以跟踪宿主和寄生虫种群如何对迁移策略与定居策略作出反应。从实地采集的帝王蝶的稳定同位素分析中推断出的关于非移民和移民混合的信息，将为定居和移民人口相互作用的数学模型提供信息，以探索疾病传播和移民人口持续存在的后果。该项目将发展理论，为重叠的迁移策略如何改变，并受到影响，寄生虫感染，并将阐明迁移的演变特征的遗传变化，伴随着最近形成的定居人口。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Every year, billions of animals migrate long distances. If animals with parasites are less likely to reach their destinations, then migration may allow populations to escape habitats where parasites build up over time. Understanding how animal migration affects the spread of disease is important to predicting disease risk, including to humans. This study focuses on monarch butterflies as a model system and explores the impacts of parasites on butterfly populations that migrate and populations that have recently lost their migratory habits. This study will also examine how non-migrating populations may influence the risk of having parasites by the migrating forms in areas where they come together. Field and experimental studies will also examine how these microscopic parasites influence how long butterflies live and their flight ability. Through the high visibility and public appeal of monarchs, this project will support the participation of citizen scientists on a continental scale. The investigators will also mentor and train undergraduate and graduate students and will develop web and classroom based educational materials on host-parasite relationships and animal migration. This work will provide additional opportunities for middle school students and support k-12 activities. Finally, this work will inform efforts to conserve monarch butterflies and our understanding of how migration may influence the importance of parasites across many systems. Using a monarch butterflies and protozoan parasite system, the goal of this study is to examine how migratory and sedentary behaviors influence transmission risk and severity of infection. Research activities will integrate (i) an analysis of continent-wide citizen science databases to monitor monarch butterfly abundance and infection; (ii) field and experimental studies to test how monarch migratory behavior depends on non-native milkweeds and infection status, and to quantify parasite transmission rates; (iii) molecular genomics to ask whether genetic changes in sedentary populations might reinforce the loss of migratory behavior; and (iv) mathematical modeling to track how host and parasite populations respond to migratory vs. sedentary strategies. Information on the mixing of non-migrants and migrants, inferred from stable isotope analyses of field-collected monarchs, will inform mathematical models of interacting sedentary and migratory populations, to explore the consequences for disease spread and the persistence of migratory populations. The project will develop theory for how overlapping migration strategies alter, and are themselves affected by, parasite infection, and will shed light on the evolution of migration by characterizing genetic changes that accompany the recent formation of sedentary populations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.