37th Annual Student Research Conference
Investigating the Impact of Biotic and Meteorological Factors of Botfly Infection Prevalence in Mice
Renhao Wang
Dr. Hyun-Joo Kim and Dr. Stephanie Fore, Faculty Mentors
Cuterebra fontinella, the mouse botfly, is a parasitic insect known to infest numerous mammalian hosts, and its presence can have profound effects on the health and survival of its hosts. The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of meteorological variables on the prevalence of botfly infections within the Peromyscus leucopus (white-footed mice) population. Live trapping of mice and collection of botflies were conducted across two permanent grids located in an old field and a forest in northeast Missouri from 2006 to 2019. Linear regression and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) were used to assess the relationship between botfly prevalence and several biotic variables alongside meteorological factors. Our findings indicated that botfly prevalence is directly influenced by a sole variable, which is 120-day average degree days.
Keywords: botfly, white-footed mouse, linear regression, modelling, parasite, Ecology
Topic(s):Statistics
Biology
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: 307-2
Location: MG 1000
Time: 1:00