US-China Collab: Lessons from the past: synthesizing drivers of host persistence across a pathogen invasion gradient

病原体入侵新的地区导致了广泛的人口下降，并导致一些物种灭绝。然而，在宿主物种最初因疾病而衰退之后，尚不清楚某些宿主如何与病原体共存，特别是当病原体是致命的时。了解宿主-病原体共存的机制可以深入了解促进健康宿主群体的途径，包括疾病管理策略和治疗。这个全球项目是美国和中国科学家之间的合作，将研究蝙蝠如何在导致白鼻综合征的致命真菌病原体中生存。这项工作将探索在过去的几千年里，随着疾病从亚洲传播到欧洲，然后传播到北美，蝙蝠中是否反复出现了类似的共存策略。该项目还包括为野生动物疾病研究人员和利益相关者提供沟通培训，与州和地方资源管理人员合作制定疾病管理策略，并建立国际网络以促进跨境野生动物保护。研究疾病动态和种群影响沿着入侵梯度可以促进对宿主-病原体相互作用的理解，从而塑造种群和物种群落。本计画将使用田野研究、实验室实验及数学模型来解决四个主要目标：（1）量化接触网路与传播沿着病原体入侵梯度;（2）确定环境因子的角色与宿主-病原体动态的选择强度;（3）研究宿主抗性、耐受性和病原体毒力在流行和地方病地区种群持续性中的作用，（4）利用人口学研究和古基因组学确定流行地区疾病对当前和历史人口的影响。为了实现这些目标，该项目将利用一个跨学科的国际团队，以发展一个机制的理解与有毒病原体的主机持久性。结合起来，这项工作对减少多宿主系统中新出现的传染病的后果具有广泛的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The invasion of pathogens into new regions has caused widespread population declines and driven some species to extinction. However, after host species initially decline from disease, it is unclear how some hosts can coexist with pathogens, particularly when the pathogens are lethal. Understanding the mechanisms of host-pathogen coexistence can provide insight into pathways that promote healthy host populations, including disease management strategies and treatments. This global project is a collaboration between U.S. and Chinese scientists and will examine how bats survive with a deadly fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome. This work will explore whether similar coexistence strategies have arisen in bats repeatedly as the disease spread from Asia, to Europe, and then to North America over the last several thousand years. This project also includes communications training for wildlife disease researchers and stakeholders, work with state and local resource managers to develop disease management strategies, and the establishment of international networks to promote cross-border wildlife conservation.Studying disease dynamics and population impacts along an invasion gradient can facilitate understanding of the host-pathogen interactions that shape populations and species communities. This project will use field studies, lab experiments, and mathematical models to address four central aims: (1) Quantify contact networks and transmission along a pathogen invasion gradient; (2) Determine the role of environmental factors and the strength of selection on host-pathogen dynamics; (3) Examine the role of host resistance, tolerance, and pathogen virulence in population persistence across epidemic and endemic regions, and (4) Determine the impact of disease in endemic regions on current and historic populations using demographic studies and paleogenomics. To address these aims, this project will leverage an interdisciplinary international team to develop a mechanistic understanding of host persistence with a virulent pathogen. Combined, this work has wide-ranging implications for reducing the consequences of emerging infectious diseases in multi-host systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.