Collaborative Research: Origins and Spread of the Aspergillus-Gorgonian Coral Epizootic: Role of Climate and Environmental Facilitators

近期珊瑚礁疾病暴发高发率可能是由气候相关压力、新病原体输入增加或两者兼而有之所致。无法在海洋系统中使用传统的疾病管理方法（扑杀、疫苗接种、检疫）增加了了解和控制海洋疾病的紧迫性。对珊瑚病最实际的补救措施是控制输入和传播。然而，我们不知道任何珊瑚病原体的起源，也不了解传播机制。曲霉-海扇珊瑚流行病是一个很好的模型系统，用于检验关于突发海洋疾病起源的假设，传播和耐药性在疾病爆发中的相对重要性，特别是环境促进因素的作用。在这个项目中，康奈尔大学、北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校、南卡罗莱纳大学和马里兰大学生物技术研究所的研究人员将通过一个结合实验和理论方法的研究项目来研究这个系统。目的是：(1)利用微卫星标记确定海扇中曲霉病暴发的起源；(2)通过开发免疫检测方法来评估宿主耐药性的作用；(3)实验评价环境促进因子在疫情中的作用；(4)评估感染风险的人口和空间决定因素；(5)通过珊瑚种群中疾病传播的空间模型，嵌入基于因子的框架，发展疾病爆发和传播的预测理论。该项目预计将产生广泛的教育和国际影响，因为它将丰富墨西哥Akumal的本科教学计划，并在实地和国内研究机构培训高中生、本科生、研究生和博士后。这个项目的主要知识价值是将野生动物疾病的当前理论带入容易操纵的热带海洋研究系统。通过与美国国家海洋和大气管理局和世界银行有针对性的研究举措的相互作用，寻求珊瑚礁管理的应用成果，并在海洋生态学，特别是珊瑚礁疾病方面确立新的方向，从而加强该项目。

ABSTRACTOCE-0326705 / OCE-0326983 / OCE-0326269 / OCE-0326698Recent high rates of disease outbreaks on coral reefs may be caused by climate-related stress, increased inputs of new pathogens, or both. The inability to use traditional methods of disease management in marine systems (culling, vaccination, quarantine) adds urgency to understanding and controlling disease in the ocean. The most practical remediation for coral disease is to control inputs and spread. Yet, we do not know the origin of any coral pathogen nor do we understand mechanisms of transmission. The aspergillus - sea fan coral epizootic is an excellent model system for testing hypotheses about the origins of emergent marine disease, the relative importance of transmission and resistance in outbreaks and particularly the role of environmental facilitators. In this project, researchers at Cornell University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of South Carolina, and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute will investigate this system through a research program combining linked experimental and theoretical approaches. The objectives are (1) to determine the origins of the aspergillosis outbreak in sea fans, using microsatellite markers;(2) to evaluate the role of host resistance through development of immunological assays;(3) to evaluate experimentally the role of environmental facilitators in the outbreak;(4) to assess demographic and spatial determinants of infection risk; and(5) to develop a predictive theory of disease outbreak and spread through a spatial model for spread of disease in coral populations, embedded in an agent- based framework.The project is expected to have broad educational and international impacts because will enrich undergraduate teaching programs in Akumal, Mexico, and train high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at field sites and at the home research institutions. The primary intellectual merit of this project is bringing current theory in wildlife disease to a tropical marine study system that is easily manipulated. The project will be enhanced by seeking applied outcomes for management of coral reefs and forging new directions in the ecology of marine and particularly coral reef diseases through interactions with NOAA and World Bank targeted research initiatives.