Ecoimmunology and behavioural ecology of migratory songbirds

寄生虫占所有已知物种的近一半，可以极大地降低宿主的健康、生存和繁殖。栖息地变化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。候鸟被视为寄生虫的可能携带者和传染病的传播者而受到特别关注。我的研究项目考察了鸟类和它们通过血液传播的寄生虫之间的相互作用，特别关注寄生虫强加的选择如何影响重要的生活史特征，如幼年扩散、配偶选择和季节性迁徙。与15名研究生和本科生一起，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。我和我的学员们将让迁徙的鸣禽接触熟悉和陌生的寄生虫，以确定抵抗力是快速发展(在一个人的一生中)还是更慢(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异。我们将进行偏好测试，以测试鸟类是否像哺乳动物和鱼类那样，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，是否与迁徙距离相关，从而可能限制这一特征的演变。我们将比较较长距离和较短距离迁徙获得的寄生虫和其他微生物的多样性，我们将操纵感染状况，然后通过数百个无线电塔阵列跟踪个体活动，以确定寄生虫是否会改变迁徙行为。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方面的专业知识。这项研究将有助于在气候变化的情况下预测传染病的传播。这种洞察力将使加拿大人能够预测、计划和避免新出现的传染病威胁对野生动物种群的潜在后果。

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.