| 研究実績の概要 |
FY2019 was the final year of this four-year project. The focus was on lab work to examine fecal samples collected from primates for parasites during the project, and manuscript preparation. The largest outcome in FY2019 was the graduation of Mr. Surdensteeve Peter from the Universiti Malaysia Sabah. His thesis work was a big part of this project, and we were able to show that two protozoan pathogens, Giardia and Cryptosporidium, infect endangered proboscis monkeys as well as long-tailed macaques along the Kinabatangan river, which highlights the need for wider testing of wild primates in the region to assess risks associated with these infections to their conservation This also relates to public health since these organisms may also infect humans. This work is ongoing and Mr. Peter will return to Japan later this year - travel restrictions permitting - to continue this work in my laboratory. We were also able to describe for the first time male pinworms infecting proboscis monkeys with collaborator Dr. Hideo Hasegawa of Oita University. This helped us improve our understanding of helminth parasite diversity in Bornean primates. Lastly, I conducted a final field trip to Sabah in July to meet with domestic collaborators and share our results, explore new field sites for project expansion, as well as attend a conservation biology conference in Kuala Lumpur to create a wider network. Based on this work, I was awarded another Kakenhi grant - Kiban B - to expand the current work and study the relationship between primate and parasite biodiversity in critical Bornean ecosystems.
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