CAREER: Experimental Analyses Relating Host Contact and Parasite Community Structure

这项工作支持了一项综合研究和教育工作，旨在(1)更好地了解寄生生物与其宿主之间的相互作用，(2)培养学生解决野生动物疾病问题的深度和复杂性。寄生虫可以极大地影响生物种群，并间接影响整个群落甚至生态系统。宿主行为和生态的变化如何影响个体动物和整个种群的寄生虫，目前尚不清楚。该项目支持对几种常见野生动物物种的研究，研究导致动物相互接触的环境变化如何影响这些动物感染寄生物种的可能性，包括对经济和公共卫生具有重要意义的寄生虫。该研究的教育部分侧重于更好地整合生态学和健康科学领域。这将通过(1)对学生进行生态寄生虫学方面的培训，(2)在密苏里大学现有的项目中建立一个研究野生动物疾病的联盟，以及(3)为本科生和研究生建立一个参与疾病生态学研究的实习系统来实现。

This work supports an integrated research and education effort that aims to (1) better understand interactions between parasitic organisms and their hosts and (2) train students to address the depth and complexity of wildlife disease issues. Parasites can dramatically influence populations of organisms, and indirectly influence entire communities or even ecosystems. How changes in the behavior and ecology of hosts influence the parasites of individual animals as well as entire populations is poorly understood. This project supports a study of several common wildlife species that addresses how changes to the environment that result in animals coming into contact with one another influence the likelihood that these animals will become infected with parasitic species, including parasites of economic and public health importance.The education component of the study focuses on better integration of the fields of ecology and health sciences. This will be accomplished by (1) training students in ecological parasitology, (2) the creation of a consortium for studying wildlife diseases amongst currently existing programs at the University of Missouri, and 3) structuring a system of internships for undergraduate and graduate students to become involved in research in disease ecology.