NSFDEB-NERC: Diversity and disease: uniting community and disease ecology to understand how biodiversity affects parasite transmission

生物多样性丧失和新出现的传染病是下个世纪最艰巨的两个科学挑战。这些现象也有着千丝万缕的联系：传染病可能导致生物多样性丧失并塑造生态社区，而社区多样性则可以调节寄生虫的传播和感染风险。因此，了解它们之间的关系是至关重要的，特别是考虑到与人类活动相关的生物多样性和物种混合的日益加剧的变化。然而，关于多样性-疾病关系的方向、大小和一般性，出现了大量的不确定性，甚至出现了看似相互矛盾的假设。解决这些不同的研究路线并开发一个更具预测性的框架需要(I)采用更机械化的方法来了解多样性影响传播的直接和间接途径，以及(Ii)评估这种影响如何依赖于寄生虫特征、群落聚集和规模。这一建议的中心目标是将参数化传播模型与实地调查、实验室实验和全生态系统操作相结合，以确定群落多样性通过何种机制影响整个寄生虫(两栖大型寄生虫)的传播及其相对重要性。

Biodiversity loss and emerging infectious disease are two of the most formidable scientific challenges for the next century. These phenomena are also inextricably linked: infectious diseases can drive biodiversity loss and shape ecological communities, while community diversity can regulate parasite transmission and infection risk. Hence, understanding the relationship between them is paramount, particularly given intensifying changes in biodiversity and species mixing associated with human activities. However, substantial uncertainty and even seemingly contradictory hypotheses have emerged regarding the direction, magnitude, and generality of the diversity-disease relationship. Resolving these disparate lines of research and developing a more predictive framework requires (i) a more mechanistic approach to understand the direct and indirect pathways through which diversity influences transmission and (ii) assessments of how such effects depend on parasite traits, community assembly, and scale. The central aim of this proposal is to integrate parameterized transmission models with field surveys, laboratory experiments, and whole-ecosystem manipulations to identify the mechanisms through which community diversity affects transmission and their relative importance across an entire guild of parasites (amphibian macroparasites).