DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Disease, Genetic Bottlenecks and the Evolution of Immune Response in Island Avifauna

由于在疾病稀少的环境中长期进化的历史和历史上低种群规模的遗传后果的综合影响，长期孤立的岛屿物种可能异常容易受到病原体的影响。除夏威夷外，人们对疾病对太平洋其他孤立群岛上的鸟类的威胁程度知之甚少。拟议的项目将采用一个比较框架（大陆与岛屿）来审查影响一组南太平洋本地鸟类对疾病易感性的若干因素，这些因素相对于被认为对疾病具有相对抵抗力的非本地引进物种。这个项目在评估几个太平洋岛屿的病原体流行情况和描述某些受威胁物种能够对当前和未来的疾病威胁作出反应的遗传变异方面具有直接的保护价值。如果鸟类病原体在遥远的南太平洋岛屿上比在大陆上更少见，那么拟议的系统也提供了一个独特的机会来了解病原体如何通过它们对免疫投资的需求来限制鸟类的生活史。这个项目的结果将为比较未来的寄生虫调查提供一个重要的基线，并将为夏威夷疾病系统的充分研究提供背景：夏威夷是独特的，还是它是一个更大的太平洋系统的一部分，在这个系统中，寄生虫的引入可能会带来灾难性的后果？

Long-isolated island species may be unusually susceptible to pathogens due to the combined influences of a long history of evolution in a disease-impoverished environment and the genetic consequences of historically low population sizes. Except in Hawaii, little is known about the extent to which disease threatens avifauna on other isolated archipelagoes of the Pacific. The proposed project will employ a comparative framework (mainland vs. island) to examine several factors influencing disease susceptibility in a group of native South Pacific birds relative to non-native introduced species, which are presumed to be relatively resistant to disease.This project will be of immediate conservation value in its assessment of pathogen prevalence in several Pacific islands and in characterizing the genetic variation with which certain threatened species can respond to current and future disease threats. If avian pathogens are less common on remote South Pacific islands than on the mainland, then the proposed system also provides a unique opportunity to understand how pathogens may constrain avian life history through their demands on immune investment. Results from this project will provide an important baseline with which to compare future parasite surveys and will lend context to the well-studied Hawaiian disease system: is Hawaii unique, or is it part of a larger Pacific system in which the introduction of parasites could have disastrous consequences?