Dissertation Enhancement Research: Habitat Fragmentation and the Responses of Hantavirus Host Communities in Panama: A Test of the Dilution Effect Hypothesis

0241169Yates美洲计划论文增强项目将支持Gerardo Suzan先生在新墨西哥大学Terry L. Yates博士的指导下进行论文研究。这项研究是与巴拿马GORGAS纪念研究所的Armiens Blas博士合作进行的，目的是研究人类活动导致的自然环境变化如何影响汉坦病毒肺综合征病毒库的分布以及在人类中爆发的风险。稀释效应假说的最简单形式是，高生物多样性降低了某些啮齿动物传播疾病的发生频率。如果是这样，一些新出现的人畜共患疾病可能与生物多样性的丧失有关。本文将利用巴拿马6个不同程度人为干扰和规模的国家公园的小型哺乳动物物种丰富度和分布来验证这一假设。初步调查表明，在巴拿马仅收集汉坦病毒库的人类占主导的生境中发现的物种丰富度最低，并指出人为干扰有利于汉坦病毒库分布的结论，并可能解释最近的疫情。本研究将建立不同生物群落的物种分布数据库，根据生境破碎化程度确定疾病风险最高的潜在区域，并最终增加我们对与人类活动相关的啮齿动物水库生态的理解。该项目的基本结论可适用于世界不同区域的其他病媒传播疾病。如果生物多样性和疾病风险紧密相关，自然资源的保护就变得更加重要。

0241169YatesThis Americas Program thesis enhancement project will support thesis dissertation research by Mr. Gerardo Suzan under the supervision of Dr. Terry L. Yates of the University of New Mexico. The research, in collaboration with the Dr. Armiens Blas of the Instituto Conmemorativo GORGAS in Panama, aims to study the way that changes in natural environments resulting from human activity affect the distribution of the reservoir for Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome and the risk of outbreaks in humans.In its simplest form, the dilution effect hypothesis suggests that high biodiversity reduces the frequency of some rodent-borne diseases. If so, several emerging zoonotic diseases may be related to the loss of biodiversity. Small mammal species richness and distribution in six Panamanian national parks with varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance and size will be used to test this hypothesis. Preliminary surveys indicate that the lowest species richness was found in human dominated habitats where the hantavirus reservoir in Panama was exclusively collected and point to the conclusion that anthropogenic disturbance favors the hantavirus reservoir distribution, and possibly explains recent outbreaks.This study will establish a database for species distribution among different biomes, identify potential areas of highest disease risk based on the degree of habitat fragmentation, and, ultimately, increase our understanding of rodent reservoir ecology as it relates to anthropogenic activities. The basic conclusions of this project may apply to other vector-borne diseases in different regions of the world. If biodiversity and disease risks are strongly correlated, conservation of natural resources becomes even more important.