Trophic interactions and the ecology of emerging lungworm infections under global warming

全球变暖下新出现的肺蠕虫感染的营养相互作用和生态学

• 批准号: 2889944
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Queen's University Belfast
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2889944
• 关键词: Trophic; interactions; ecology; emerging; lungworm

The risk posed to human and animal welfare by infectious diseases has been emphasised in recent years following the Covid-19 pandemic. With attention focused on viruses, parasitic diseases and their impacts on global health may sometimes be overlooked. This is despite many parasites causing zoonotic disease and posing a threat to biodiversity and conservation.Angiostrongylus cantonesis is the leading cause of parasitic meningitis in humans globally, in addition to causing mortality in multiple threatened animal species. While closer to home, Angiostrongylus vasorum causes severe disease in domestic dogs and Crenosoma striatum is associated with respiratory disease in European hedgehogs which are classed as a vulnerable species in the UK. The geographic and temporal ranges of several lungworm species appear to be shifting in response to climate change. However, climate modelling has shown that environmental conditions alone do not predict the current parasite distributions. Many species of lungworm have a complex life history requiring multiple hosts to complete each cycle. Parasite-host encounters and thus parasite prevalences are determined by behavioural and ecological factors that are as yet poorly understood. By following the flow of parasites across different trophic levels and under differing climates, risk factors for transmission can be identified. In turn allowing more targeted action by One Health practitioners in preventing zoonotic disease, as well as informing conservationists and wildlife rehabilitators about risks to vulnerable animal species. A combination of approaches will be employed during this project; behavioural experiments will be conducted on the feeding and thermoregulatory choices of gastropod host species in differing climates, samples from paratenic and definitive hosts will be examined to determine how parasitic infection affects host fitness, and molecular techniques will be used to track the movements of parasites through complex food webs. This project aims to investigate the ecology and epidemiology of A. vasorum and C. striatum species within wildlife species in the UK. However, the findings will be used as a model for other closely related lungworm species. This is especially relevant given the recent incursion of zoonotic A. cantonensis into Southern Europe.

近年来，在COVID-19-19大流行后，人们强调了通过传染病对人类和动物福利带来的风险。随着人们对病毒的关注，有时可能会忽略寄生疾病及其对全球健康的影响。尽管有许多寄生虫引起人畜共患病并对生物多样性和保护构成威胁。AngioStrongyluscantonesis是全球人类寄生脑膜炎的主要原因，除了引起多种受威胁动物物种的死亡率。虽然离家更近，但血管血管造成家养犬的严重疾病，而肌肌瘤纹状体与欧洲刺猬的呼吸道疾病有关，欧洲刺猬在英国被列为脆弱的物种。几种肺虫物种的地理和时间范围似乎会随着气候变化的响应而变化。但是，气候建模表明，仅靠环境条件不能预测当前的寄生虫分布。许多肺虫具有复杂的生活历史，需要多个宿主完成每个周期。寄生虫主持人的相遇和寄生虫的流行率取决于尚未理解的行为和生态因素。通过遵循不同营养水平和不同气候下的寄生虫的流动，可以确定传播的危险因素。反过来，一位卫生从业人员在预防人畜共患病以及向保护主义者和野生动物康复者告知脆弱动物物种的风险方面采取了更大的针对性行动。该项目期间将采用多种方法；将对在不同气候中的腹足动物宿主物种的喂养和热调节选择进行行为实验，将检查寄生虫和确定性宿主的样品，以确定寄生虫感染如何影响宿主的适应性，并将分子技术用于通过复杂的食品网络跟踪果蝇的运动。该项目旨在调查英国野生动植物物种中瓦斯曲霉和纹状体物种的生态和流行病学。但是，这些发现将被用作其他密切相关的肺虫物种的模型。鉴于最近将人畜共​​患病纳入南欧的人口侵害，这一点尤其重要。