Dissertation Research: Virus Infection in Field Populations of a Terrestrial Isopod

生态学领域的主要目标之一是 理解生物和非生物力量 确定生物的丰度和分布。 虽然 以前的研究已经检查了各种遗传和环境因素， 使个体宿主生物体易于感染的因素， 寄生虫，很少有人试图了解如何 宿主的种群水平特征影响其 对自然栖息地中的寄生虫的易感性。 拟议的研究将实验性地检查 其中陆生等足类动物种群的特征 他们对致命病毒的易感性 自然实验 栖息地将研究等足类动物密度和 营养状况与生境的物理特征 这反过来又会影响它们的聚集和移动模式。 当前宿主和寄生虫种群的理论模型 动态表明，宿主种群分裂成 更小的群体在确定死亡率方面可能非常重要。 病毒通过宿主群体传播。 病毒已成为重要的生物控制剂， 近年来，它们的全部潜力尚未实现。 了解决定有效性的因素 给定的控制剂对于确保该控制剂的成功是重要的。 代理，这项研究可能会增加我们对如何和 当控制剂的应用将是最有效的。 此外，由于等足类动物在其觅食栖息地非常普遍， 并且可以在相当长的距离内分散，它们很可能 是最重要的土壤生物之一， 分散基因工程微生物的能力。 如使用 转基因生物的数量增加， 必须根据这些微生物的分散程度来支付 等足类动物和其他土壤生物。

One of the major objectives of the field of ecology is understanding the mechanisms by which biotic and abiotic forces determine the abundance and distribution of organisms. Although previous studies have examined various genetic and enviromental factors that predispose individual host organisms to infection by parasites, few attempts have been made to understand how population level characteristics of the host affect their susceptibility to parasites in natural habitats. The proposed research will experimentally examine the ways in which characteristics of terrestrial isopod populations affect their susceptibility to a lethal virus. Experiments in natural habitats will examine the interaction of isopod density and nutritional state with physical characteristics of the habitat which in turn affect their patterns of aggregation and movement. Current theoretical models of host and parasite population dynamics suggest that fragmentation of a host population into smaller groups may be very important in determining the rates of transmission of viruses through the host population. Viruses have become important biological control agents in recent years and their full potential has yet to be realized. Understanding the factors that determine the effectiveness of a given control agent is important to ensure the success of that agent, and this study may increase our understanding of how and when applications of control agents will be most effective. Also, since isopods are very general in their feeding habitats and can disperse over significant distances, they are likely to be one of the most important soil organisms in terms of their ability to disperse genetically engineered microbes. As the use of genetically engineered organisms increases, more attention must be paid to the degree to which these microbes are dispersed by isopods and other soil biota.