CAREER: Marshaling NEON Resources to Understand Wildlife Disease Transmission

野生动物携带许多不同种类的病原体，这些病原体可以传播给相同或不同物种的其他个体。导致COVID的病毒就是一个很可能的例子。这些传播事件被认为受到环境条件的影响，环境条件会影响野生动物的数量、分布和健康。这个美国国家科学基金会职业项目的重点是环境条件的变化如何促进病原体从野生动物传播给人类。研究人员将研究北美和南美的野生啮齿动物种群，为野生动物疾病在不同生态系统中的传播提供全面调查。结果将有助于回答降雨和温度的变化如何影响野生动物的病原体感染率，从而影响这些病原体传播给人类的可能性。这些信息将为预防新流行病的战略提供信息。学生们将参加南美的国际实地考察和弗吉尼亚的实验室工作、弗吉尼亚理工大学的一个暑期教育项目，以及一门关于如何绘制野生动物疾病地图的新课程。研究人员将调查汉坦病毒在野生啮齿动物中的传播，并模拟其传播给人类的风险。将分析来自美国大陆[国家生态观测网]和智利的数据，以提供全面的环境梯度、多样的啮齿动物物种和两种汉坦病毒谱系。将对啮齿动物进行血清调查，并根据现场数据估计人口统计学和流行病学参数。这些数据将通过生态位建模进行整合。模型将有助于阐明啮齿动物宿主的环境适宜性与汉坦病毒传播模式之间的联系。该项目具有很强的教育成分，包括美国和智利学者之间的交流项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Wild animals carry many different kinds of pathogens that can be transmitted to other individuals of the same or different species. The virus that causes COVID is a likely example. These transmission events are thought to be influenced by environmental conditions, which affect wildlife abundance, distribution, and health. This NSF CAREER project focuses on how changes in environmental conditions contribute to pathogen transmission from wildlife to humans. Researchers will study wild rodent populations in North and South America, providing a comprehensive investigation of wildlife disease transmission across different ecosystems. Results will help answer how changes in rainfall and temperature influence pathogen infection rates in wildlife and hence the likelihood that those pathogens will spread to humans. Such information will inform strategies to prevent new epidemics. Students will participate in international field expeditions in South America and laboratory work in Virginia, an educational summer program at Virginia Tech, and a new course on how to map wildlife diseases.Researchers will investigate hantavirus circulation in wild rodents and model the risk of transmission to humans. Data will be analyzed from the continental United States [National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)] and Chile to provide comprehensive environmental gradients, diverse rodent species, and two hantavirus lineages. Rodents will be sero-surveyed and demographic and epidemiological parameters will be estimated from field data. These data will be integrated through ecological niche modeling. Models will help elucidate the linkages between environmental suitability of the rodent host and transmission patterns of hantavirus. The project features a strong educational component, including an exchange program between United States and Chilean scholars.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.