Linking agricultural land-use intensity, ecological integrity and infection risk in the rural Sahel

将萨赫勒农村地区的农业土地利用强度、生态完整性和感染风险联系起来

• 批准号: 2743498
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2743498
• 关键词: Linking; agricultural; land; use; intensity

Agriculture delivers critical products and benefits to individuals, societies and economies (food, fibre, fuels, incomes, livelihoods). However, this often comes at great expense to the environment (deforestation, biodiversity loss, invasive species, chemical pollution, soil loss, groundwater degradation and greenhouse gas emissions). Together, these strongly affect human health; for example, via impacts on diets, disease hosts and vectors, or exposure to climatic extremes.The overarching aim of this Project is to conduct robust, integrated investigations into the cumulative health risks of environmental change (climate, land-use, biodiversity, pollutants) through the lens of agriculture in a rapidly developing setting in The Gambia, West Africa. Here, as for much of Sub Saharan Africa and developing regions elsewhere, agriculture dominates rural livelihoods, environmental stressors from and impacting upon agriculture are increasing, and the burden of infectious diseases attributable to environmental factors is both high and poorly resolved.This project specifically aims to link metrics of ecological integrity across agricultural land-use intensity gradients to vector-borne disease risks in people.The project comprises three components:i) Cross-sectional environmental assessments used to characterise agricultural typologies (extent, activities), disease risk factors and ecological integrity measures in each site. This will comprise a combination of field surveys (land, water, plant, animal, chemical) and remote sensing analysis (e.g., satellite sensors, drone imagery, ground-based acoustic sensors for "soundscape" analysis).ii) In combination, the student will conduct intensive sampling within each site to quantify the presence and diversity of infectious disease vectors (e.g., mosquitoes, sandflies, ticks);iii) A third component will integrate i) and ii) using innovative analysis and modelling approaches to resolve the drivers of local vector diversity, establish their links to ecological integrity, and test hypotheses relating land-use change for agriculture (e.g., following a sustainable agricultural intensification approach) to vector-borne disease risks.Components i) and ii) will be undertaken in The Gambia, West Africa, in collaboration with the MRC Unit The Gambia. Field sampling will be intensive and require a minimum commitment of around 6 months in total over the course of the project in order to conduct sampling in both a wet and a dry season. The student would be encouraged to spend a considerable part of the PhD in The Gambia working in the PIs lab (Planetary Health), with the remainder spent in London in the co-I's lab at Silwood Park (Forest Ecology and Conservation).For more information on how to apply to us please visit: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/educationThe project will sit within a larger project context focussing on the net health impacts of agricultural development and its contribution to environmental and social change. The student will work with another PhD student who is quantifying human-animal contact and zoonotic disease risks across the site network. Other parallel projects that may connect to this project will focus on other human health outcomes, including nutrition via links with dietary diversity and heat exposure via links with local microclimates.

农业为个人，社会和经济（食品，纤维，燃料，收入，生计）提供关键产品和利益。但是，这通常付出了巨大的代价（森林砍伐，生物多样性丧失，入侵物种，化学污染，土壤损失，地下水降解和温室气体排放）。这些共同影响了人类健康。例如，通过对饮食，疾病宿主和媒介的影响或暴露于气候极端的影响。该项目的总体目的是对环境变化的累积健康风险进行强有力的整合研究（气候，土地利用，生物多样性，污染物， ）通过冈比亚西非迅速发展的农业镜头。在这里，与其他地方的大部分撒哈拉以南非洲和发展地区一样，农业主导着农村生计，对农业产生和影响的环境压力源正在增加，并且能够归因于环境因素的传染病负担既高又不足。将农业土地利用强度梯度之间生态完整性的指标与人的媒介疾病风险联系起来。该项目包括三个组成部分：i）用于表征农业类型（范围，活动），疾病风险因素和疾病风险因素和疾病风险因素和横断面环境评估每个站点的生态完整性度量。这将包括现场调查（陆地，水，动植物，动物，化学）和遥感分析（例如，卫星传感器，无人机图像，地面的声传感器，用于“音景”分析）。学生将在每个站点内进行密集的抽样，以量化传染病载体的存在和多样性（例如蚊子，沙子，tick虫）; iii）; iii）第三个成分将整合i）和ii）使用创新分析和建模方法来解决驱动因素局部媒介多样性，建立与生态完整性的联系，并测试有关农业的土地利用变化（例如，遵循可持续的农业强化方法）与媒介疾病风险i）和ii）将在媒介传播的风险中i）和ii）进行西非冈比亚与MRC部门冈比亚合作。现场采样将是密集的，在项目过程中总共需要最低限度的承诺，以便在潮湿和干燥季节进行采样。将鼓励学生在PIS实验室（Planetary Health）工作的冈比亚度过大部分博士学位，其余的在伦敦在Silwood Park的Co-I实验室（森林生态和保护）中度过。有关如何申请我们的信息，请访问：https：//www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/education该项目将坐落在更大的项目环境中，重点关注农业发展的净健康影响及其对环境和社会变革的贡献。该学生将与另一个正在量化现场网络中人类动物接触和人畜共患病风险的博士生合作。可能与该项目联系起来的其他平行项目将重点关注其他人类健康结果，包括通过与饮食多样性的联系和通过与当地微气候的联系进行热暴露的营养。