Project

Linking biodiversity and pathogen abundance in bacterivorous nematode populations

The aim of the project is to investigate presence of pathogens that infect nematodes and link this to the biodiversity of nematodes present in the field.

Introduction/Background

In macroscopic species, pathogen abundance can increase when biodiversity is lost. This effect is termed the ‘dilution-effect’, because in biodiverse environments pathogens will encounter less competent hosts. Yet, other studies have demonstrated an ‘amplification-effect’: here higher biodiversity is related with higher pathogen prevalence. These conflicting results have been raising questions about the generality of the relation between biodiversity and pathogen presence. Here bacterivorous nematode populations are used and developed as a model system to identify which factors determine pathogen presence in microbial communities.

Project description

To identify the biodiversity in natural nematode host and pathogen communities several steps will be taken. First, bacterivorous nematode populations are sampled five and nematodes communities will be extracted from the samples. Then, the samples will be screened presence of pathogens such as oomycetes, microsporidia or viruses by making use of staining a fluorescent reporter strains of C. elegans. Nematode communities will be sequencing to identify nematode species present. Finally, the datasets will be analyzed and the links between nematode and pathogen biodiversity will be tested to detect evidence for the ‘dilution’ or ‘amplification’ hypotheses. Moreover, the nematodes collected from the field will be maintained in culture, in order to verify the hypothesis based on the field observations in a later stage.

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