Parasite spillover in anthropogenic landscapes: Building an adaptive network framework for predicting infectious diseases outbreaks.
Despite the increasing availability of data on biodiversity and parasite prevalence distributions, the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms associating landscape anthropization and disease emergence remains unclear. We approach the problem in an interdisciplinary way, integrating the theoretical framework of ecology, evolution and epidemiology with machine learning tools and complex network theory applied to real data. The anticipated insights on disease ecology can impact several aspects of economic and human development, including public health and, particularly, to inform policy-makers regarding the management of anthropogenic processes affecting biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and human welfare. |
Disease meta-community ecology: Understanding and predicting parasite spillover in anthropogenic landscapes.
Anthropogenic changes in landscape structure are related to the process of parasite spillover and disease emergence. Yet, the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms associating landscape change and disease emergence remain unclear. We need to understand both the non-random sequences by which communities are disassembled, and whether resilient species tend to amplify or dilute parasite transmission. We will develop theoretical and analytical frameworks to understand the structure and dynamics of host-parasite interaction networks across space and time. We will parameterize mathematical models with empirical data in order to model and predict: the diversity and composition of parasite and host assemblages across the landscape; the probability of parasite-host interactions; the effect of network structure on parasite-host coevolutionary dynamics; and the spatial risk of parasite spillover. We will then test model predictions and assumptions by sampling new empirical data. |
Functional ecology of parasites: Deciphering species epidemiological role in landscapes with different levels of conservation.
The emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases is related to the loss of biodiversity and degradation of natural environments. Therefore, understanding how the structure of host communities is related to the distribution of infection rates is crucial to understanding the dynamics of transmission cycles and predicting the risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks in human populations. This project aims to investigate how species traits are related to their epidemiological roles and how the functional dimension of biodiversity shapes the transmission cycles of multi-host infections. We are developing theoretical models and analytical methods to integrate theory with empirical data, advancing the field of infectious disease ecology in Brazil. |
Biodiversity Dynamics and Ecosystem Functioning in Coevolutionary Meta-ecosystems (COMETA)
Understanding how the coevolutionary process alters ecosystem dynamics and functioning across landscapes is becoming increasingly important as climate and land-use change, and the spread of invasive species are changing ecosystems worldwide. In this vein, developing theoretical models that integrate empirical data is critical to improve our predictions on the spatio-temporal dynamics of ecological communities and ecosystem functioning. Such integration might facilitate the exploration of patterns of coexistence among species, their role in ecosystem functioning, and the risk of collapse of coevolved ecosystems across different spatial and temporal scales. In this project we are developing approaches to join coevolutionary dynamics, meta-ecosystems and interaction networks, by synthesizing spatial and trait-interaction data in species-rich meta-ecosystems. We aim to contribute to the understanding of coevolution and ecosystem function in species- and interaction-rich networks at different spatial scales. |
Biodiversity, Environment and Health: A One Health Approach to the ecology of zoonoses and other infectious and parasitic diseases in the Pedra Branca Massif, Rio de Janeiro
The reduction of biological diversity trigger a number of cascade effects that may lead to an increased risk of disease emergence. This is of special concern in large and growing urban centers adjacent to natural areas, where the contact with pathogens, high human density and inadequate sanitary conditions favor rapid episodes of pathogen dispersal. In these areas, understanding the dynamics of interactions among humans, hosts and pathogens is fundamental for developing preventive actions. This is the situation of a large part of the Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil, but particularly in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, where low income communities in demographic expansion inhabit the surroundings of large remnants of the Mendanha and Pedra Branca forests. This project is part of the Fiocruz Mata Atlântica development projects and aims to understand the mechanisms underlying the local emergence wild zoonoses, creating the basis for a surveillance system. |