IRES Track II - Cape Horn ASIs: Climate change and disease ecology at the southern end of the Americas

IRES Track II - 合恩角 ASI：美洲南端的气候变化和疾病生态学

• 批准号: 2106155
• 负责人: Andrew Gregory
• 金额: $ 39.66万
• 依托单位: University of North Texas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2106155&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Track; II; Cape; Horn

Over sixty percent of Earth’s ice-free areas are best described as human-modified anthropogenic biomes. This means that pristine areas are scarce, and that most ecological studies are de facto studies of anthropogenic impacts on ecological systems. However, the study of pristine systems is necessary for developing a baseline understanding of ecological function so that we can apply this understanding to develop meaningful and appropriate conservation plans, or even know what applied research questions are worth pursuing. Unfortunately, pristine systems are at a premium. In general, graduate students do not have the opportunity to develop their ecological understanding under pristine or near pristine ecological systems. In addition, the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine data suggest that current STEM graduate student training may not be providing a rigorous education in quantitative experimental design. Quantitative experimental design is designing studies with an eye toward the statistical analyses that will be used to analyze the data. Using quantitative design principles, rooted in sound ecological theory, ensures that researchers are asking relevant and testable questions that will lead to meaningful results. This is a crucial component of graduate student education and researcher professional development, as it ensures that increasingly scarce research funding are not wasted Additionally, collaboration is becoming the norm in research, and international collaboration via electronic media was becoming increasingly common even before the current pandemic. In this IRES Track II project, students will have the opportunity to be trained in quantitative experimental design and work as part of a multinational research collaboration to study infectious disease emergence in one of the few remaining pristine places on Earth. The Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR) off the southern tip of South America protects pristine ecosystem is perfect for this type of graduate student training. The CHBR is part of the sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion, which is globally significant because it houses the worlds southernmost forest biome, contains numerous endemic species, is remote, and is relatively free of anthropogenic impacts. In addition, with the exception of Avian Malaria which arrived just a few years ago, the system is relatively free of zoonotic diseases. Making the region a living laboratory to study the ecosystem transformations that co-occur with human discovery and settlement of an area. The program will bring graduate students from across the US to work in international collaborative teams with Chilean students from the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG) and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) in Chile, and a diverse group of faculty from across the US and Chile. The focus of the program will to be provide graduate students robust and hands-on training in quantitative experimental design and international collaboration resulting in publications. The research questions themselves will be flexible, but organized thematically. Specifically, this IRES Track-II will focus on the merging molecular genetic analysis using a mobile next generation sequencing lab with mist netting and arthropod trapping to investigate the impacts of wildlife disease on local biodiversity and community structure. Secondarily, eDNA and traditional wildlife disease monitoring approaches will be applied to understand the potential for zoonosis and understanding ecological factors that contribute to, or inhibit, zoonosis. Resultantly, participation in this program will help train the next generation of scientists with the skills needed to make meaningful contributions to the study of ecology, conservation, and wildlife disease ecology.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.

地球上超过60%的无冰区最好地被描述为人类修改的人为生物群。这意味着原始区域是稀缺的，而且大多数生态学研究实际上是关于人类活动对生态系统影响的研究。然而，对原始系统的研究对于建立对生态功能的基线理解是必要的，以便我们能够应用这种理解来制定有意义和适当的保护计划，甚至知道哪些应用研究问题值得研究。不幸的是，原始系统处于溢价状态。一般来说，研究生没有机会在原始的或接近原始的生态系统下发展他们对生态的理解。此外，美国国家科学、工程和医学研究院的数据表明，目前的STEM研究生培训可能没有提供量化实验设计方面的严格教育。定量实验设计是设计着眼于统计分析的研究，这些统计分析将被用于分析数据。使用植根于健全的生态理论的定量设计原则，确保研究人员提出相关和可测试的问题，从而产生有意义的结果。这是研究生教育和研究人员专业发展的一个重要组成部分，因为它确保了日益稀缺的研究资金不会被浪费。此外，合作正在成为研究的常态，甚至在当前的大流行病之前，通过电子媒体进行的国际合作就已经变得越来越普遍。在IRES Track II项目中，学生将有机会接受定量实验设计方面的培训，并作为跨国研究合作的一部分工作，研究地球上仅存的几个原始地方之一的传染病出现。南美洲南端的合恩角生物圈保护区(CHBR)保护着原始的生态系统，非常适合这种类型的研究生培训。CHBR是亚南极麦哲伦生态区的一部分，该生态区具有全球意义，因为它拥有世界最南端的森林生物群，包含许多特有物种，地处偏远，相对不受人为影响。此外，除了几年前到来的禽类疟疾外，该系统相对没有人畜共患疾病。使该地区成为一个活生生的实验室，研究与人类发现和定居地区同时发生的生态系统变化。该项目将吸引来自美国各地的研究生与来自马格兰大学(UMAG)和智利生态与生物多样性研究所(IEB)的智利学生以及来自美国和智利的不同教职员工一起在国际合作团队中工作。该计划的重点将是在定量实验设计和国际合作方面为研究生提供强有力的实践培训，最终形成出版物。研究问题本身将是灵活的，但按主题组织。具体地说，IRES Track-II将专注于使用移动下一代测序实验室与雾网和节肢动物诱捕相结合的分子遗传分析，以调查野生动物疾病对当地生物多样性和群落结构的影响。其次，EDNA和传统的野生动物疾病监测方法将被应用于了解人畜共患病的可能性，并了解促进或抑制人畜共患病的生态因素。因此，参与这一计划将有助于培训下一代科学家，他们拥有为生态、保护和野生动物疾病生态研究做出有意义贡献所需的技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。