CAREER: Reconstructing Parasite Abundance in River Ecosystems Over the Past Half Century

这个奖项是根据《2021年美国公共救援计划和法案》(公法第117-2号)全部或部分资助的。导致许多传染病的寄生虫是随着时间的推移而增加还是减少？这个简单的问题令人惊讶地难以回答，因为过去几乎没有数据来记录寄生虫的负担。为了绕过这个问题，寄生虫生态学家开发并验证了一项新技术：他们现在可以从自然历史收藏中保存的液体保存的标本中提取关于寄生虫负担的信息。这项创新为了解传染病格局在过去100年中发生了怎样的变化提供了一个巨大的机会，因为存在数百万合适的液体保存标本，可以提供特定时间和地点寄生虫负担的快照。在这个项目中，研究人员将使用液态保存的鱼来重建美国南部和西南部河流生态系统中寄生虫丰度的长期数据。这个项目将回答一个长期存在的问题，对社会管理野生动物传染病的能力具有紧迫的影响，同时为学生提供参与、贡献和深入参与一组令人着迷的有机体--寄生虫的研究的培训机会。这个项目将解决寄生虫生态学中的三个基本问题：(Q1)在过去的半个世纪里，河流生态系统中寄生虫的丰度发生了怎样的变化？(Q2)工业污染和城市化在影响寄生虫数量随时间变化的过程中起到了什么作用？(Q3)当寄生虫群落经历其他干扰(如干旱)时，工业污染和城市化如何影响它们的稳定性(即抵抗力和复原力)？回溯性控制-影响研究设计(即控制影响前研究，其中时间是连续的而不是离散的)将使研究人员能够测试寄生虫负担的长期时间变化，并确定人为影响(例如工业污染、城市化)和其他干扰(例如干旱)对这种长期变化的影响。这位研究人员将把这些数据纳入一门新设计的寄生虫生态学课程，该课程将作为开放教育资源共享，并将八名本科生研究人员整合到她的研究团队中，为学生提供许多参与动手研究的机会。该项目还将开发一个开放式学习模块，向小学生介绍寄生虫生态的概念。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Are the parasites that cause many infectious diseases increasing or decreasing in abundance through time? This simple question is surprisingly difficult to answer because few data exist to document parasite burdens in the past. To circumvent this problem, parasite ecologists have developed and validated a new technique: they can now extract information on parasite burden from liquid-preserved specimens held in natural history collections. This innovation opens a massive opportunity to understand how the infectious disease landscape has shifted in the past 100 years, because millions of suitable liquid-preserved specimens exist that can provide snapshots of parasite burden at particular times and places. In this project, the researcher will use liquid-preserved fish to reconstruct long-term data on the abundance of parasites in river ecosystems of the US South and Southwest. This project will answer a long-standing question with pressing implications for society’s ability to manage infectious disease in wildlife, while simultaneously opening training opportunities for students to participate in, contribute to, and deeply engage with research on a fascinating group of organisms, the parasites. This project will address three fundamental questions in parasite ecology: (Q1) How has the abundance of parasites in river ecosystems changed over the past half century? (Q2) What roles have industrial pollution and urbanization played in shaping change in parasite abundance through time? (Q3) How do industrial pollution and urbanization affect the stability (i.e. resistance and resilience) of parasite communities as they experience other disturbances (e.g., drought)? The retrospective control–impact study design (i.e., before–after–control–impact study in which time is continuous rather than discrete) will allow the researcher to test for long-term temporal change in parasite burden and to identify the influence of anthropogenic impacts (e.g., industrial pollution, urbanization) and other disturbances (e.g., drought) on that long-term change. The researcher will incorporate these data into a newly redesigned course in Parasite Ecology that will be shared as an open educational resource and integrate eight undergraduate researchers into her research team, providing many opportunities for students to participate in hands-on research. This project will also result in the development of an open-access learning module that introduces concepts of parasite ecology to elementary-aged learners.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.