DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Selective Predators and the Dynamics of Host-Parasite Interactions

虽然疾病的爆发越来越受到公众的关注，特别是在人类和濒危或经济上重要的物种中，但我们对自然界中控制寄生虫病的因素的了解仍然非常不完整。 捕食者选择性地扑杀受感染的动物可以减少寄生的想法并不新鲜，但还没有大规模的控制实验来测试选择性捕食对寄生的影响。 此外，捕食的影响并不总是直接的：在许多情况下，捕食者也可以通过将寄生虫的卵或孢子散布在整个环境中来促进寄生虫的传播。 在这些情况下，捕食对寄生的综合影响尚不清楚。 我已经开发了一个流行病学模型，该模型结合了受感染动物的选择性捕食以及寄生虫孢子的存活，这些孢子被释放回环境中。 拟议的研究将使用真菌感染的浮游动物和鱼类捕食者作为模型系统来测试该模型的预测。 这将提供第一个实验测试捕食对寄生的影响。 在不久的将来，由于人为的环境压力，寄生率预计会增加，但是，这种预测是基于对控制寄生的因素的不完全了解。 这一建议的一个重要的更广泛的影响是对这一知识的贡献。 其他更广泛的影响包括培训研究生和本科生在数学和实验领域生态学的接口，并在互联网上传播项目结果。

While disease outbreaks are receiving increased public attention, especially in humans and endangered or economically important species, our knowledge of the factors controlling parasitic disease in nature remains woefully incomplete. The idea that selective culling of infected animals by predators can decrease parasitism is not new, yet there have been no large-scale, controlled experiments testing the effects of selective predation on parasitism. Further, the effect of predation is not always straightforward: in many cases, a predator can also facilitate parasite transmission by dispersing eggs or spores of the parasite throughout the environment. In these cases, the combined effects of predation on parasitism are unclear. I have developed an epidemiological model that incorporates selective predation of infected animals as well as survival of parasite spores, which are released back into the environment. The proposed research will test the predictions of this model using fungus-infected zooplankton and fish predators as a model system. This will provide the first experimental test of the effects of predation on parasitism. Rates of parasitism are predicted to increase in the near future as a result of anthropogenic environmental stresses; however, this prediction is based on incomplete knowledge of the factors controlling parasitism. Contributing to this knowledge is an important broader impact of this proposal. Additional broader impacts include training a graduate student and an undergraduate at the interface of mathematical and experimental field ecology, and the dissemination of project results on the internet.