Effects of land-use changes and diet on the viral and bacterial load of black-backed jackals and bat-eared foxes in Namibia - a metagenomics approach to understand the ecological and molecular attributes affecting population health in important pathogen r

人为的土地使用改变被认为会给野生动物带来压力，对健康状况产生负面影响。它还促进了野生动物和人类相关牲畜之间的接触，可能影响病原体的传播速度，这可能是威胁我们生物多样性的新型传染病数量不断增加的原因之一。在纳米比亚中部的农田，我们要调查两种流行的土地利用模式（牲畜与游戏养殖）和相关的动物群落影响南部非洲的两个突出的犬科动物的健康状况，杂食性黑背豺（犬mesomelas）和食虫，食果蝙蝠耳狐（耳狐megalotis）。两者都被认为是重要的病原体储存库和载体，在改良的栖息地中也很丰富。我们将使用宏基因组学方法，应用下一代测序技术对整个病毒（病毒组）和细菌群落（微生物组）进行定性、定量和比较。与其他野生动物和牲畜的接触率将由戴无线电项圈的个人进行调查。此外，我们的目标是基因型的免疫基因变异性（MHC）的两个物种，并分析其对病原体负荷的影响，也使用高通量的方法和多元统计。我们的研究将增加我们对影响宿主和潜在病媒物种种群健康的生态和分子属性以及病毒和细菌疾病中的物种屏障的理解。这将有助于避免将根除方案作为疾病暴发期间的管理工具。

Anthropogenic land-use modification is supposed to stress wildlife with negative effects on health conditions. It also facilitates the contact between wildlife and human associated livestock potentially affecting the transmission rate of pathogens which might be one reason for the increasing number of novel infectious diseases threatening our biodiversity. In the farmlands of central Namibia, we want to investigate how two prevalent modes of land-use (livestock versus game farming) and associated animal communities affect the health status of two prominent canids of southern Africa, the omnivorous black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) and the insectivorous-frugivorous bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis). Both have been blamed as important pathogen reservoirs and vectors and are abundant also in modified habitats. We will use a metagenomics approach applying next-generation sequencing technologies to qualify, quantify and compare the whole virus (virome) and bacteria community (microbiome). The contact rates with other wildlife and livestock will be investigated by radio-collared individuals. Furthermore, we aim to genotype the immune gene variability (MHC) of both species and to analyse their impact on the pathogen load also using high-throughput methods and multivariate statistics. Our study will increase our understanding of the ecological and molecular attributes affecting population health of host and potential vector species as well as species barriers in viral and bacterial diseases. This will contribute to avoid eradication programs as a management tool during disease outbreaks.