29th Annual Student Research Conference
The Role of Distance Traveled on Reinfestation of Peromyscus leucopus (White-Footed Mouse)
Morgan K. Poisson
Dr. Stephanie Fore and Dr. Hyun-Joo Kim, Faculty Mentors
The number of larval ticks on mice plays a role in disease risk as pathogens are passed from mice to ticks to the animals and humans that ticks bite. Mice that move more in their environment may encounter more ticks. I analyzed how distance traveled by Peromyscus leucopus affected its tick burden. This study used a subset of data collected in long-term monitoring of small mammals in Adair County, Missouri. This subset included mice that had been recaptured within 24-hours in two seasonal time periods. Straight line distances between traps were used to infer distances traveled between captures. Poisson regression suggested that there was a relationship between distance traveled and tick burden in March-May, but not in June-October. These results suggest that distance traveled by P. leucopus and reinfestation number do not share a simple relationship and other environmental factors may contribute to the tick burden.
Keywords: Peromyscus leucopus, Reinfestation, Distance, Regression, Tick Burden
Topic(s):Biology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: -3
Location: MG 2001
Time: 8:30