Ecoimmunology and behavioural ecology of migratory songbirds

寄生虫占所有已知物种的近一半，可以显着降低宿主的健康，生存和繁殖。栖息地的改变和气候变暖正在改变许多寄生虫的地理范围，结果是寄生虫越来越多地传播感染新的宿主种群。特别是候鸟被认为可能是寄生虫的携带者和传染病的传播者。我的研究项目研究鸟类和它们的血液传播寄生虫之间的相互作用，特别关注寄生虫的选择如何影响重要的生活史特征，如幼年传播，配偶选择和季节性迁移。与15名研究生和本科生学员一起，我将使用遗传学，免疫学，寄生虫学和运动生态学的尖端技术来研究寄生虫如何影响其鸣禽宿主的生态和进化。我和我的学员将把迁徙鸣禽暴露在熟悉和不熟悉的寄生虫中，以确定抵抗力是迅速（在个体的一生中）还是缓慢（在进化过程中）。我们将对参与免疫防御的基因进行测序，以确定可能有助于抵御当地寄生虫菌株的特定变体。我们将进行偏好测试，以测试鸟类是否会像哺乳动物和鱼类一样，利用气味线索来评估潜在配偶的健康状况和免疫状况。我们将测试其他行为特征，如冒险或探索行为，是否与迁移距离相关，从而可能限制这种特征的进化。我们将比较较长距离与较短距离移民获得的寄生虫和其他微生物的多样性，我们将操纵感染状态，然后通过数百个无线电塔的阵列跟踪个体运动，以确定寄生虫是否改变迁移行为。学员将获得动物跟踪，高级数据分析，下一代测序和生物信息学，野生动物健康，疾病生态学以及使用稳定同位素评估动物起源的专业知识。这项研究将有助于预测在气候变化的情况下传染病的传播。这些见解将使加拿大人能够预测、规划和避免新出现的传染病对野生动物种群的威胁的潜在后果。

Parasites represent nearly half of all known species, and can dramatically reduce the health, survival and reproduction of their hosts. Habitat alteration and a warming climate are changing the geographic ranges of many parasites, with the result that parasites are increasingly spreading to infect new host populations. Migratory birds have been especially scrutinized as possible carriers of parasites and spreaders of infectious disease. My research program examines the interactions between birds and their bloodborne parasites, with particular attention to how selection imposed by parasites influences important life-history traits such as juvenile dispersal, mate choice and seasonal migration. Together with fifteen graduate and undergraduate trainees, I will use cutting edge techniques in genetics, immunology, parasitology, and movement ecology to examine how parasites affect the ecology and evolution of their songbird hosts. My trainees and I will expose migratory songbirds to familiar and to unfamiliar parasites, to determine whether resistance develops quickly (within an individual's lifetime) or more slowly (over evolutionary time). We will sequence genes involved in immune defense to identify specific variants that may help protect against local parasite strains. We will conduct preference tests to test whether birds use odour cues to assess the health status and immune profiles of potential mates, as mammals and fish are known to do. We will test whether other behavioural traits, such as risk-taking or exploratory behaviour, are correlated with migration distance and might thus limit the evolution of this trait. We will compare the diversity of parasites and other microbes acquired by longer- versus shorter-distance migrants, and we will manipulate infection status then track individual movements through an array of hundreds of radiotowers to determine whether parasites alter migratory behaviour. Trainees will acquire expertise in animal tracking, advanced data analysis, next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics, wildlife health, disease ecology, and the use of stable isotopes to assess animal origins. This research will help predict the spread of infectious disease in the face of a changing climate. Such insights will allow Canadians to forecast, plan and avert the potential consequences of emerging infectious disease threats to wildlife populations.