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Grady Thesis4.36 MB
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Thesis
Characterizing rodent ecology in an agroecosystem: implications for zoonotic disease risk
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006939
Abstract
Anthropogenic land use activities, such as agricultural intensification or deforestation can have profounding impacts on wildlife and their pathogens. As humans continue to move into new areas and change the landscape, these anthropogenic lands, such as agroecosystems, can provide habitat and resources for both humans and wildlife. With increases in shared habitat for both humans and animals, there are increases in opportunities for human-wildlife interactions and the likelihood of a spillover event occurring. Rodents are a key example of wildlife hosts that can live in these modified environments due to their synanthropic behaviors. Thus, understanding the ecological and environmental drivers that affect the distribution and abundance of rodent hosts is the first step in mitigating spillover. In this thesis, we review the current work that addresses the ecological and environmental drivers of spillover in agroecosystems across the Americas through a scoping review. We focus on three main rodent borne diseases: Hantavirus, Leptospira, and JunÃn virus, and two rodent-associated diseases: Borrelia Burgdorferi and Rickettsia. The ecology of specific rodent species is an important risk factor in the transmission of different rodent-borne and rodent associated pathogens. Habitat preference, landscape heterogeneity and connectivity, and predator-prey and host community dynamics are all ecological and environmental drivers that can influence rodent abundance and their pathogens. To understand the impact these drivers, have on specific rodent communities, it is important to study these drivers in specific contexts. A case-study in the Palouse grassland ecoregion was conducted in May - August in the years 2022 and 2023. We used capture/recapture methods to estimate rodent in three different site type within the Palouse agroecosystems: cattle, crop and natural areas, to determine how the landscape composition and configuration influenced rodent abundance at different spatial scales. Landscape vegetation, heterogeneity, and complexity are influential factors to consider when modeling rodent abundance to understand the risk of rodent zoonotic pathogen spillover in the Palouse grassland ecoregion.
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Details
- Title
- Characterizing rodent ecology in an agroecosystem
- Creators
- Anna Catherine Grady
- Contributors
- Pilar Fernandez (Co-Chair)Stephanie N Seifert (Co-Chair)Krizstian Magori (Committee Member)Eric Lofgren (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- College of Veterinary Medicine
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 111
- Identifiers
- 99901125038701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis