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Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA

Habitat fragmentation and heterogeneity transform otherwise contiguous tracks of forest into smaller patches in the northeastern U.S. and likely impact abundances, movement patterns, and disease transmission pathways for small-mammal communities at multiple scales. We sought to determine the structu...

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Autores principales: Mason, Samuel D., Sherratt, Samuel C. R., Kruguer, Samantha M., Muthersbaugh, Michael, Harris, Jonathan P., Gatlin, Wayne C., Topp, Justin D., Keller, Gregory S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9191718/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35696376
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269768
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author Mason, Samuel D.
Sherratt, Samuel C. R.
Kruguer, Samantha M.
Muthersbaugh, Michael
Harris, Jonathan P.
Gatlin, Wayne C.
Topp, Justin D.
Keller, Gregory S.
author_facet Mason, Samuel D.
Sherratt, Samuel C. R.
Kruguer, Samantha M.
Muthersbaugh, Michael
Harris, Jonathan P.
Gatlin, Wayne C.
Topp, Justin D.
Keller, Gregory S.
author_sort Mason, Samuel D.
collection PubMed
description Habitat fragmentation and heterogeneity transform otherwise contiguous tracks of forest into smaller patches in the northeastern U.S. and likely impact abundances, movement patterns, and disease transmission pathways for small-mammal communities at multiple scales. We sought to determine the structure of a small-mammal community in terms of mammal abundance and infection prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.), Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia microti within a fragmented landscape in Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. We studied communities at multiple spatial scales, including vegetation, edge type, and landscape (including 200-m, 500-m, and 1000-m radii) scales. A total of 16 study sites were chosen to represent four edge types: interior forest, pasture edge, natural edge, and residential edge. At each site, we trapped small mammals and conducted vegetation surveys and GIS analysis. Upon capture, a tissue sample was collected to analyze for presence of pathogens. Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) abundance did not differ based on edge type, whereas abundance of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) was greatest at pasture edges, although the relationship was relatively weak. White-footed mouse abundance was negatively associated with amount of forested area within a 500-m radius, whereas northern short-tailed shrew abundance demonstrated a positive relationship with fragmentation indices at the 200-m radius. White-footed mice captured at interior-forest habitat were more likely be infected with B. burgdorferi (s.s.) than individuals from edge habitat. Greater prevalence of B. burgdorferi infection of white-footed mice in forest interiors compared to edge habitats counters previous studies. Reasons for this and implications are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-91917182022-06-14 Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA Mason, Samuel D. Sherratt, Samuel C. R. Kruguer, Samantha M. Muthersbaugh, Michael Harris, Jonathan P. Gatlin, Wayne C. Topp, Justin D. Keller, Gregory S. PLoS One Research Article Habitat fragmentation and heterogeneity transform otherwise contiguous tracks of forest into smaller patches in the northeastern U.S. and likely impact abundances, movement patterns, and disease transmission pathways for small-mammal communities at multiple scales. We sought to determine the structure of a small-mammal community in terms of mammal abundance and infection prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.), Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia microti within a fragmented landscape in Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. We studied communities at multiple spatial scales, including vegetation, edge type, and landscape (including 200-m, 500-m, and 1000-m radii) scales. A total of 16 study sites were chosen to represent four edge types: interior forest, pasture edge, natural edge, and residential edge. At each site, we trapped small mammals and conducted vegetation surveys and GIS analysis. Upon capture, a tissue sample was collected to analyze for presence of pathogens. Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) abundance did not differ based on edge type, whereas abundance of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) was greatest at pasture edges, although the relationship was relatively weak. White-footed mouse abundance was negatively associated with amount of forested area within a 500-m radius, whereas northern short-tailed shrew abundance demonstrated a positive relationship with fragmentation indices at the 200-m radius. White-footed mice captured at interior-forest habitat were more likely be infected with B. burgdorferi (s.s.) than individuals from edge habitat. Greater prevalence of B. burgdorferi infection of white-footed mice in forest interiors compared to edge habitats counters previous studies. Reasons for this and implications are discussed. Public Library of Science 2022-06-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9191718/ /pubmed/35696376 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269768 Text en © 2022 Mason et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mason, Samuel D.
Sherratt, Samuel C. R.
Kruguer, Samantha M.
Muthersbaugh, Michael
Harris, Jonathan P.
Gatlin, Wayne C.
Topp, Justin D.
Keller, Gregory S.
Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA
title Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA
title_full Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA
title_fullStr Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA
title_full_unstemmed Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA
title_short Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA
title_sort multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in essex county, ma
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9191718/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35696376
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269768
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