Lyme disease remains a significant public health problem in the United States and prevention involves exposure reduction and the use of newly developed vaccines. The goal of this study is to develop methods to better anticipate where and when infected ticks are likely to be most abundant. Using seven years worth of field data gathered in southeastern New York, the authors have reported that periodic heavy production of acorn crops (masting) establishes conditions for high rates of Borrelia bugdorferi transmission among the reservoir-vector populations. The proposed research is intended to test whether: the density of infected nymphal ticks is related to earlier acorn production; that density-dependent dispersal of white-footed mice links Bb in adjoining, different habitats; that greater densities of reservoir incompetent species in maple woodlands, as opposed to oak forests result in lower levels of infections in ticks; and, that abiotic conditions in maple forests may increase the survival of immature ticks. Finally, perturbation studies of two populations of potential reservoirs will be performed to examine the effects of faunal diversity on infection prevalence.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI040076-07
Application #
6534085
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-TMP (01))
Program Officer
Baker, Phillip J
Project Start
1996-08-15
Project End
2004-08-31
Budget Start
2002-09-01
Budget End
2004-08-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$84,863
Indirect Cost
Name
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Millbrook
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
12545
Calabrese, Justin M; Brunner, Jesse L; Ostfeld, Richard S (2011) Partitioning the aggregation of parasites on hosts into intrinsic and extrinsic components via an extended Poisson-gamma mixture model. PLoS One 6:e29215
Brunner, Jesse L; Ostfeld, Richard S (2008) Multiple causes of variable tick burdens on small-mammal hosts. Ecology 89:2259-72
Lee, Jamie A; Spidlen, Josef; Boyce, Keith et al. (2008) MIFlowCyt: the minimum information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment. Cytometry A 73:926-30
Schmidt, Kenneth A; Rush, Scott A; Ostfeld, Richard S (2008) Wood thrush nest success and post-fledging survival across a temporal pulse of small mammal abundance in an oak forest. J Anim Ecol 77:830-7
Schmidt, Kenneth A; Ostfeld, Richard S (2008) Numerical and behavioral effects within a pulse-driven system: consequences for shared prey. Ecology 89:635-46
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Hornbostel, Victoria L; Ostfeld, Richard S; Zhioua, Elyes et al. (2004) Sublethal effects of Metarhizium anisopliae (Deuteromycetes) on engorged larval, nymphal, and adult Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae). J Med Entomol 41:922-9
Ostfeld, Richard S; Roy, Pamela; Haumaier, Wendy et al. (2004) Sand fly (Lutzomyia vexator) (Diptera: Psychodidae) populations in upstate New York: abundance, microhabitat, and phenology. J Med Entomol 41:774-8

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