BRC-BIO: Testing the drivers of heterogeneity in vector-borne blood parasitism and enhancing biodiversity collections and education in parasitology

University Of Scranton, Scranton PA

Investigators

Abstract

Parasitic organisms have an incredibly profound impact on earth’s ecosystems through their capacity to cause disease in the host organisms that they infect. Parasitism has been estimated to be the most common mode of life among all of earth’s species, and parasites are pervasive across the world’s wildlife, livestock, and human populations. Yet as influential as parasites are, not all hosts are equally likely to become infected with a parasite. While some host species appear to be parasite ‘hotspots’ that are frequently infected by a diversity of parasite species, others somehow manage to largely escape parasitism. Identifying the factors that determine whether a host species is likely to be parasitized is critical for advancing our understanding of the distribution of disease in nature and the capacity for disease to spread. The proposed research will expand our knowledge of the factors that influence whether a host species is likely to become infected with a parasite. Parasite specimens collected from this work will be used to develop a course-based research experience in parasitology, and to engage Scranton area high school students from underrepresented groups in parasitology research at the University of Scranton. This BRC-BIO project will study a diverse community of birds, their blood parasites, and insect vectors (mosquitoes and Culicoides biting midges) in northeastern Pennsylvania to test hypotheses about the determinants of parasitism in vertebrates. Parasite specimens will be preserved and accessioned in biodiversity repositories to identify and describe novel parasite species diversity, and high throughput sequencing approaches will be used to characterize parasite communities within bird and insect vector populations. The proposed research will test the following hypotheses: 1) bird species that are more frequently infected with parasites are more likely to have been colonized by parasite species over evolutionary timescales, 2) antagonistic associations between two common groups of blood parasites (haemosporidians and trypanosomatids) reduce the likelihood of host infection, and 3) host traits and biases in insect vector feeding behavior influence the acquisition of parasites across host species. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.