Dissertation Research: Parasite Mediated Changes in Host Physiology and Life-time Reproductive Success of a Wild Mouse

野生动物通常有很好的装备来应对多变的恶劣环境。 有趣的是，大多数野生动物在其一生中也会获得寄生虫。 一些寄生虫杀死宿主，但另一些寄生虫引起慢性亚致死性感染。 PI的目标是确定慢性亚致死性寄生虫感染是否影响宿主生理学，从而影响宿主繁殖。 PI将检查1）宿主肠道生理学和能量分配（葡萄糖吸收，脂肪和瘦肉质量），2）宿主繁殖（产仔，后代质量），3）宿主后代的生长和存活（线性生长测量，体重）。 首先，该项目对生命史进化领域具有影响，因为它将确定受感染宿主的繁殖是否受到其获取或处理能量的能力的限制。 其次，由于这项研究使用的是野生小鼠，而不是实验室小鼠，它将有助于了解野生动物如何科普可能改变生殖多个方面的慢性感染。第三，这项研究将提供急需的经验数据的数学模型，亚致死寄生虫如何影响宿主繁殖。 最后，由于人类慢性寄生虫感染在第三世界国家很常见，这项研究可能有助于了解亚致命寄生虫对人类生殖的影响。

Wild animals are often well-equipped to handle variable, harsh environments. Interestingly, most wild animals also will acquire parasites during their lives. Some parasites kill their host, but others cause a chronic, sub-lethal infection. The PIs goal is to determine if chronic, sub-lethal parasite infection affects host physiology and consequently host reproduction. The PIs will examine 1) host intestinal physiology and energy allocation (glucose absorption, fat and lean masses), 2) host reproduction (litter production, offspring masses), and 3) growth and survival of host offspring (linear growth measures, body mass).The broader significance of this project spans several research areas. First, this project has implications for the field of life-history evolution because it will determine if an infected host's reproduction is constrained by its ability to acquire or process energy. Second, because this research uses wild, rather than laboratory, mice it will aid in the understanding of how wild animals cope with chronic infections that may alter multiple aspects of reproduction. Third, this research will provide much needed empirical data for mathematical models of how sub-lethal parasites affect host reproduction. Finally, because chronic parasite infection of humans is common in third world countries, this research may help understand the effects of sub-lethal parasites on human reproduction.