HOST PARASITE RELATIONSHIPS IN BEAR LAKE FISH AND INVERTEBRTES--UTAH AND IDAHO

熊湖是犹他州为数不多的天然湖泊之一，拥有两个 有趣的特征：至少有四种特有鱼类生活在这里，以及 湖里的许多鱼都以底栖生物为初级物种 食物来源。由于这些功能，熊湖提供了一个 寄生虫与其宿主之间的关系可以 在一个有着与世隔绝的历史和最低限度的 外部影响。本研究涉及的具体问题有：1) 熊湖的鱼类蠕虫群落是随机的、恶化的和 它们是非交互的还是结构化的集合和交互的？和 2)熊湖的寡营养状态是否导致了寄生虫食物 以自生寄生虫物种(使用 湖里的鱼既是中间宿主，也是最终宿主)？参数 为了量化熊湖鱼中蠕虫组合的结构，包括： 流行率，多样性指数，优势度指数，定性和 定量相似指数与胃肠道部位定位 蠕虫。将开发一个针对熊湖寄生虫的食物网 结合鱼类最终宿主、鱼类/底栖动物之间的相互作用 无脊椎动物中间宿主和寄生虫的下层和组成部分 社区。参与这个项目的少数民族学生将学习一个 自然寄主-寄生系统。他们会变得知识渊博， 精通寄生虫生态学，并学习相互作用的基本方面 在寄生虫及其适用于大多数宿主的宿主之间- 寄生虫系统，包括人类宿主-寄生虫系统。暴露于 寄生虫生态概念将对以下学生特别有用 进入一个生物医学领域，该领域涉及研究猪流感的流行病学 人类的寄生虫病。

Bear Lake, one of the few natural lakes in Utah, possesses two interesting features: at least four endemic fish species live here, and many of the fishes in the lake use benthic invertegrates as a primary food source. Because of these features, Bear Lake provides an opportunity where relationships between parasites and their hosts can be studies in a community with a history of isolation and minimal external influences. Specific questions addressed in this study are: 1) Are fish helminth communities in Bear Lake stochastic, depauperate, and non-interactive or are they structured assemblages and interactive? And 2) Does the oligotrophic status of Bear Lake result in a parasite food web that is dominated by autogenic parasite species (species which use fish in the lake as both an intermediate and definitive host)? Parameters to quantify structure of helminth assemblages in Bear Lake fish include: prevalence, a diversity index, a dominance index, both qualitative and quantitative similarity indices, and site location of gastrointestinal helminths. A food web for Bear Lake parasites will be developed incorporating the interactions between fish definitive hosts, fish/benthic invertebrate intermediate hosts, and parasite infra- and component communities. Minority students involved in this project will study a natural host-parasite system. They will become knowledgeable and skillful in parasite ecology and learn fundamental aspects of interactions between parasites and their hosts that are applicable to most host- parasite systems including human host-parasite systems. Exposure to parasite ecological concepts will be especially useful to students that enter a biomedical field that involves studying the epidemiology of parasitic diseases of humans.