Community dynamics of an emergent pathogen: intrinsic versus extrinsic mechanisms

近几十年来，出现了许多新的疾病，通常是因为病原体跳到新的宿主身上。鸡败支原体从家禽到家雀的跳跃就是这样一个案例，它有利于促进疾病动力学的一般模型的发展。本项目将探讨不同能力的多种宿主和不同疾病表达的传播途径对疾病动力学的影响。通过结合实验工作、对自由生活鸟类群落的研究和数学模型，有可能确定在什么条件下会出现流行病，从而确定如何阻止它们。这将产生一系列更广泛的影响。成千上万的普通公众通过公民科学计划参与监测野生鸟类的疾病。由于康奈尔鸟类学实验室定期通过一份发送到4万多户家庭的通讯向公众传播研究结果及其相关性，因此公众成员可以了解这项研究的过程和成果。通过让博士后、研究生和本科生正式参与研究，大量学生接受了跨学科研究的培训，这是疾病生态学研究的标志。其中许多人属于目前在生物学研究中代表性不足的少数民族。

In recent decades many new diseases have emerged, often because a pathogen jumped to a novel host. The jump of the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum from domestic poultry to House Finches is one such case that is amenable to facilitating the development of general models of disease dynamics. This project will explore the effects on disease dynamics of multiple hosts that differ in competence and transmissions routes that differ in disease expression. By combining experimental work, studies of free-living bird communities, and mathematical models, it is possible to determine under what conditions epidemics will arise, and hence how they can be halted. A variety of broader impacts will result. Thousands of members of the general public participate in monitoring the disease among wild birds through a citizen science program. Because the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology routinely communicates research results and their relevance to the general public through a newsletter that reaches over 40,000 households, members of the public are educated about the process and products of this research. By formally involving postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates in the research a large number of students are trained in interdisciplinary research that is the hallmark of studies in disease ecology. Many of these belong to minorities currently under-represented in biological research.