MCA: GREGARINES OF GRASSHOPPERS FROM THE AMERICAN WEST

Parasitism is a widespread lifestyle across the tree of life, and the parasitic organisms can greatly affect the host species on or in which they live. This research will elucidate an understudied group of single-celled parasites called gregarines. Gregarines are related to parasites which cause severe human and animal diseases such as malaria and coccidiosis. Unlike their relatives, gregarines do not infect vertebrate hosts. Instead, they parasitize various groups of invertebrates including earthworms, shrimp, and insects. Only about 1,600 species of gregarines are known; however, given their ability to parasitize so many kinds of hosts, it is likely that this is less than 1% of the total number of species that exist. This project will collect, for the first time, gregarines parasitizing grasshoppers in the Western United States. To date, there are no collections of gregarines parasitizing any insect group west of the Rocky Mountains, and this project is expected to discover numerous new species of gregarines. Thus, this is the first attempt to characterize gregarine diversity in a focused group of ecologically important insect hosts in the entire western part of the US. In addition to field collections and species discovery, the project will provide resources and training to enhance and advance the research program of a mid-career faculty member at Rockhurst University, help train undergraduates in scientific research, and hold community education events at a local nature center that will educate the public on parasite life cycles, host-parasite interactions, and the impact of parasites on the biodiversity of the natural environment. This project explores the biodiversity of a group of understudied parasites that are almost entirely unsampled across the Western United States. It supports field-based collections and the establishment of a functional molecular laboratory for gregarine systematics at Rockhurst University. Six expeditions to sites in western states will collect grasshopper species along the gregarine parasites that live within them. The single celled gregarines will be preserved for morphological and molecular analyses to (1) discover and describe novel gregarine species parasitizing grasshoppers, and (2) investigate morphological (phenotypic) and molecular (genotypic) variation within the gregarines. This will be the first study which seeks to understand both phenotypic and genotypic variability of gregarines from insect host groups across the hosts’ geographic range. This mixed-method approach will test competing hypotheses of strict host-specificity or ecosystem-specificity in this host-parasite system. This project also will provide opportunities for outreach at a conservation center in Kansas City’s urban core to highlight conservation of natural systems. Undergraduate students will be mentored and trained in the fields of parasite taxonomy and systematics, gaining field and laboratory-based experiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.