PARA-PEST

The role of host personality and stress responses in parasite dynamics

Coordinatore	CARDIFF UNIVERSITY    more  Organization address address: Newport Road 30-36 city: CARDIFF postcode: CF24 ODE contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Eevi Cognome: Laukkanen Email: send email Telefono: +44 29 20870114 Fax: +44 29 20874189
Nazionalità Coordinatore	United Kingdom [UK]
Totale costo	201˙049 €
EC contributo	201˙049 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF
Funding Scheme	MC-IIF
Anno di inizio	2011
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2011-09-01   -   2013-08-31

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	CARDIFF UNIVERSITY  Organization address address: Newport Road 30-36 city: CARDIFF postcode: CF24 ODE contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Eevi Cognome: Laukkanen Email: send email Telefono: +44 29 20870114 Fax: +44 29 20874189	UK (CARDIFF)	coordinator	201˙049.60

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The study of personality - consistent individual differences in animal behaviour - is a rapidly expanding research field. Like humans, animals may be categorized on personality axes such as bold-shy and aggressive-passive. These traits have both costs and benefits. However, the mechanisms underlying individual variation in personality and the consequences for evolutionary fitness are largely unknown.

For the first time, links between personality and stress physiology (a potential determinant of personality) will be investigated in the context of parasite infection. Using a fish host-gyrodactylid parasite model, this fellowship will (1) quantify the links between personality and stress, (2) assess the susceptibility to infection of hosts that vary in personality/stress physiology, and (3) determine how environmental stress during development affects adult personality and subsequent parasite infection.

This multi-disciplinary project will integrate techniques from behavioural ecology, physiology and parasitology, to provide a 'step change' in our understanding of the causes and consequences of personality. Gyrodactylids are important ectoparasites, ubiquitous on teleost fish, which have huge economic impacts, particularly in the Norwegian salmon industry. Knowledge of how stress during development ultimately affects disease susceptibility, has important implications for fisheries, agriculture and captive-rearing programmes for conservation. However, the results from this project are applicable to disease dynamics in a wide range of hosts, including humans. Overall, determining how variation in host personality affects infection rates will provide a fundamental advance in our understanding of host-parasite dynamics.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The link between stress, personality and infection