Experimental manipulation of a keystone host to test indirect effects on Lyme Disease Dynamics

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Lyme Disease is a zoonotic disease of increasing impact on human health. Multiple mammalian hosts are responsible for tick success and disease prevalence. Quantifying and predicting the outcomes of changing mammalian communities on human disease risk has proven difficult as hosts may interact directly and indirectly, and some may promote tick abundance while reducing pathogen prevalence. Controlled studies of mammalian host communities are extremely rare because of the difficulty of manipulating the abundance of species at spatial scales large enough to capture relevant pathogen dynamics. To address this gap, this project will initiate studies related to a large-scale experimental manipulation of a key tick host, the white-tailed deer, to evaluate how deer alter the risk of transmission of tick-borne pathogens. The State of Wisconsin will erect 16 large enclosures at 4 locations in hardwood forests of northern Wisconsin and will stock these pens with deer at different densities. In this pre-intervention study, Ixodes scapularis ticks will be collected from all 4 sites to assess abundance and samples will be archived for comparisons of pathogens following the enclosure construction. This project will have broader impacts through examining the threshold deer density that supports high tick populations, thus contributing to recommendations for wildlife management and disease control. Importantly, this work also will have significant impacts through the training of graduate students, as well as by providing many opportunities for undergraduates to participate in interdisciplinary research.