NSF Award Abstract - #0094456| NSF Award Abstract - #0094456 |
AWSFL008-DS3 |
| NSF Org | EF |
| Latest Amendment Date | July 8, 2004 |
| Award Number | 0094456 |
| Award Instrument | Continuing grant |
| Program Manager |
Samuel M. Scheiner EF EMERGING FRONTIERS BIO DIRECT FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES |
| Start Date | September 15, 2000 |
| Expires | August 31, 2005 (Estimated) |
| Expected Total Amount | $2396233 (Estimated) |
| Investigator |
Andre A. Dhondt aad4@cornell.edu (Principal Investigator current) Evan Cooch (Co-Principal Investigator current) George V. Kollias (Co-Principal Investigator current) |
| Sponsor |
Cornell University State Office of Sponsored Programs Ithaca, NY 148532801 607/255-5014 |
| NSF Program | 1629 BE: NON-ANNOUNCEMENT RESEARCH |
| Field Application | 0312000 Population |
| Program Reference Code | 7242,9169,EGCH, |
In recent decades many new diseases have emerged. In some cases existing disease organisms jumped to novel hosts with sometimes devastating effects. In 1994 a new strain of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), a bacterium common in poultry, appeared and spread very rapidly through the house finches of eastern North America. This caused house finches to decline within 2-3 years by 100-200 million birds, stabilizing at 40% of pre-disease levels. The researchers will continue to monitor MG prevalence and house finch abundance across the entire continent, involving large numbers of volunteers; carry out intensive fieldwork to gather information about the ecology and behavior of both infected and non-infected house finches; and perform controlled aviary experiments to measure the rate of transmission of MG among house finches. Emphasis will be placed on identifying human-related factors that modify the spread and maintenance of the disease.This information will be used to develop and validate general predictive models that can be applied to similar systems. Understanding which factors are responsible for the emergence of new diseases, which factors favor for their spread, and how they affect their hosts is essential to the control of new diseases.
