Project Description-

A basic understanding of how parasites with complex life cycles interact with man-made changes to the environment will help us anticipate future changes in parasitic diseases. This project uses a variety of experimental, observational, and theoretical approaches to develop a comprehensive and synthetic understanding of the interactions between man-made environmental changes and parasite communities, and the extent to which these changes affect host communities.

Salt marshes are a useful model ecosystem for addressing the role of diseases since these wetlands are subject to a wide range of man-made impacts and support a diverse community of trematode worm parasites. Examples of changes that can affect parasite communities include biodiversity losses, pollution, introduced species, and climate change. The effects of these impacts are not likely to be the same for all diseases. Because some parasitic diseases can alter the community of hosts that they infect (by altering the flow of energy through an ecosystem, for example, or by changing predator-prey relationships), there may be complex feedback between changes in the environment, diseases, and ecosystems.

Principal Investigators

Armand Kuris
Ecology, Evolution &
Marine Biology
University of California,
Santa Barbara

Kevin Lafferty
Research Ecologist
U. S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Andrew P. Dobson
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Princeton University

Online Information-
http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/labs/kuris/index.html

Funded by

National Science Foundation
NRS Reserves
Supporting This Research
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve
Kendall-Frost Mission Bay
Marsh Reserve
Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve

Participating Institutions

Marine Sciences Institute
University of California,
Santa Barbara

U. S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Princeton University