Patterns of resource use in sea otters: implications to parasite dynamics in an endangered mammal species

• Grant number: 12/04068-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: May 04, 2012
• End date: September 03, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
• Grantee: Paula Lemos da Costa
• Supervisor: Tim Tinker
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/13996-9 - Resource use variation within populations: theoretical models and empiric evidence, BP.MS

Abstract

Variation in resource use among individuals within a population is a common pattern observed in many natural populations, which can be caused by individual differences related to sex, age, morphology, environmental or particular factors of each individual. Individual variation has been show to be relevant to ecological dynamics at population and community levels. Thus, to have a better understanding on ecological processes it is important to incorporate individual variation into dynamic models. Individual variation occurs if individuals consume different resources, and by consuming different resources individuals might be subjected to different alimentary parasites. Sea otters are an endangered mammal species that shows individual variation in resource use. Among the resources consumed by sea otters abalone can be considered a 'safe' resource, as its consumption is not associated with risk of pathogen infection, whereas marine snail is a resource associated with a high risk of pathogen infection. By integrating mathematical models, optimal diet theory and an epidemiological approach the present project will investigate how differences in pathogen exposure, associated with individuals' diet, can influence population dynamics. More specifically the following questions will be addressed: (1) how does individual variation influences the prevalence of a disease within a population; and (2) how does disease influence the pattern of resource use within populations. (AU)