DISSERTATION RESEARCH:Understanding effects on climate change on parasitism in small mammals

令人惊讶的是，人类死亡的很大一部分是由传染病引起的。了解寄生虫多样性的模式和疾病传播的动力学至关重要。目前对气候如何改变寄生虫分布和多样性的基本模式知之甚少。该项目将利用从低海拔到高海拔的变化来模拟气候变化。这项研究将描述寄生虫的分布，并研究影响寄生虫多样性的因素沿着这一梯度。研究结果将把气候变化、寄生虫多样性和疾病联系起来。该项目将推动公共卫生和政策努力，以减少疾病随着气候变化而增加的风险。国家地理学会和史密森学会将主办公开的数据库，这将有助于今后在物种多样性高的地区进行研究。这项研究将加强与肯尼亚研究人员的合作，并将使美国学生参与实地工作。研究人员还将与加州少数民族参与联盟合作，指导来自经济弱势群体和其他代表性不足群体的学生进行数据分析和疾病生态学。该项目将探讨气候驱动的宿主饮食，多样性和密度变化如何影响寄生虫。研究结果将有助于了解气候变化将如何影响野生动物及其寄生虫所需的预测框架。研究人员将使用先前从30种小型哺乳动物中收集的样本来量化每种宿主的饮食和胃肠道寄生虫群落。样本收集沿着肯尼亚山的海拔梯度，近似的变化，预计与气候变化的非生物条件。将对寄生虫进行计数和鉴别，并对一个子集进行条形码标记，以鉴别隐蔽和新种属。宿主饮食和营养水平将使用15N稳定同位素化学确定，并通过化合物特异性稳定同位素分析和宿主肠道内容物的目视检查进行验证。控制主机的丰度和多样性，这些数据将被用来测试，如果长期公认的模式，自由生活的物种丰富度适用于寄生虫丰富度沿着海拔梯度。负责寄生虫多样性模式的机制将通过研究宿主饮食，多样性和密度如何影响寄生虫丰富度进行探索。气候梯度预计将改变寄生虫的多样性和寄生虫每主机（强度）的数量。生物海拔效应（宿主密度、多样性和饮食）对寄生虫强度的相对重要性将针对在多个海拔高度丰富的宿主中发生的寄生虫进行检查。 该分析将在多种寄生虫中重复进行，以测试寄生虫对不断变化的宿主和气候条件的反应的一般性。

A surprising large percentage of human mortality is caused by infectious disease. Understanding patters of parasite diversity and the dynamics of disease transmission is critical. Little is currently known about how climate alters basic patterns of parasite distribution and diversity. This project will use changes from low to high elevations on a mountain to mimic climate change. The research will describe the distribution of parasites and examine the factors affecting parasite diversity along this gradient. Results will link climate change, parasite diversity, and disease. The project will advance public health and policy efforts to reduce risks that disease will increase with climate change. The National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution will host publicly available databases that will facilitate future studies in a region of high species diversity. The research will strengthen collaborations with Kenyan researchers and will engage American students in field work. The investigators will also collaborate with the California Alliance for Minority Participation to mentor students from economically disadvantaged and otherwise under-represented groups in data analysis and disease ecology.This project will explore how climate driven changes in host diet, diversity, and density affect parasitism. Results will contribute to the predictive framework needed to understand how climate change will affect wildlife and their parasites. The investigators will use previously-collected samples from 30 species of small mammals to quantify each host's diet and gastrointestinal parasite community. Samples were collected along an elevational gradient on Mount Kenya that approximates changes in abiotic conditions expected with climate change. Parasites will be counted and identified and a subset will be barcoded to identify cryptic and novel species. Host diet and trophic level will be determined using ä15N stable isotope chemistry and validated with compound specific stable isotope analyses and visual inspection of host gut contents. Controlling for host abundance and diversity, these data will then be used to test if long-recognized patterns in free-living species richness apply to parasite richness along elevational gradients. The mechanisms responsible for patterns in parasite diversity will be explored by examining how host diet, diversity, and density affect parasite richness. Climatic gradients are expected to alter both parasite diversity and the number of parasites per host (intensity). The relative importance of biotic elevation effects (host density, diversity and diet) on parasite intensity will be examined for parasites that occur in hosts abundant at multiple elevations. This analysis will be repeated across multiple parasites to test the generality of parasite responses to changing host and climatic conditions.