Parasites and their effects on host physiology, movement and behaviour

对动物行为、生理和运动的研究假设，个体是健康的，并以适应其生存的方式表现最佳。然而，野生动物面临着许多生态挑战，如寄生虫感染，这些挑战损害了它们的健康，降低了它们的表现能力，损害了它们的运动能力，最终降低了它们的适应性。寄生虫在影响动物运动行为（即移动的地点和时间）和运动表现能力（即执行运动行为的能力）方面的作用在很大程度上尚未得到探索，这可能是因为动物经常隐藏疾病的外在迹象，而寄生虫往往不引人注目。我将使用以下淡水和海洋鱼类及其相关的外寄生和内寄生作为模型系统，以解决我们对寄生虫如何影响其宿主的运动行为和运动表现的理解中的基本知识空白：A)来自魁北克湖泊的太阳鱼（Lepomis spp.）感染了吸虫（Uvulifer spp.）， B)来自美属维尔京群岛珊瑚礁的法国grunt （Haemulon flavolineatum）和brown chromis （multilineata）感染了Anilocra等足类动物。我的小组将解决四个首要问题：1)鱼类是否采取预防行为来避免感染？我们将评估蓝鳃鱼和南瓜子太阳鱼是否使用视觉和/或气味线索来避免感染的同种和栖息地。被感染的宿主是否使用治疗性行为来减少感染或从感染中恢复？在实验室和现场实验中，我们将通过寻找温暖的微栖息地来帮助受感染的太阳鱼从吸虫感染中恢复，从而测试受感染的太阳鱼是否表现出行为发烧。问题3)寄生虫会影响宿主的运动表现吗？作为对性能补偿假说的检验，我们将评估体外寄生虫感染是否会影响法国咕噜鱼和棕色变色鱼在不同生命阶段的有氧游泳和快速启动运动性能，以及内寄生虫感染是否会类似地影响太阳鱼的运动性能。问题4)运动能力受损是否影响宿主迁移模式？我们将测试受感染的法国咕噜的部分迁移是否与体外寄生虫引起的个体行为能力受损有关。这些问题的答案将为预测在不断变化的世界中宿主、寄生虫和动物运动模式之间相互作用的后果提供急需的经验数据。

Studies of animal behaviour, physiology and movement assume that individuals are healthy and performing optimally in ways which are adapted to their survival. However, wild animals face numerous ecological challenges, such parasite infection, that compromise their health, reduce their performance capacity, impair their movement abilities and, ultimately, lower their fitness. The role of parasites in influencing animal movement behaviours (i.e. where and when to move) and locomotor performance capacity (i.e. ability to execute a movement behaviour) is largely unexplored, perhaps because animals often hide outward signs of sickness, and parasites tend to be inconspicuous. I will use the following freshwater and marine fishes and their associated ecto- and endoparasites as model systems to address fundamental knowledge gaps in our understanding of how parasites shape the movement behaviour and locomotor performance of their hosts: A) sunfishes (Lepomis spp.) infected with trematodes (Uvulifer spp.) from lakes in Quebec and B) French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum) and brown chromis (Chromis multilineata) infected with Anilocra isopods from reefs in the US Virgin Islands. My group will address four overarching quesions: Q1) Do fishes use prophylactic behaviours to avoid infection? We will evaluate whether bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish use visual and/or odour cues to avoid infected conspecifics and habitats. Q2) Do infected hosts use therapeutic behaviours to reduce or recover from infection? In laboratory and field experiments, we will test whether infected sunfishes display behavioural fever by seeking out warm microhabitats to help them recover from trematode infection. Q3) Do parasites affect host locomotor performance? As a test of the performance compensation hypothesis, we will assess whether ectoparasite infection affects the aerobic swimming and fast-start kinematic performance of French grunt and brown chromis across different life stages, and whether endoparasite infection similarly affects locomotor performance in sunfish. Q4) Does impaired locomotor performance affect patterns of host migration? We will test whether partial migration in infected French grunt is related to impairments in individual performance capacity caused by ectoparasites. Answers to these questions will provide much needed empirical data for predicting the consequences of interactions between hosts, parasites and movement patterns of animals in a changing world.