Monitoring of an unmanipulated deer mouse population in comparison with one a controlled, outdoor manipulated experiment

MAZZINI, FLAVIA; BAGAMIAN, KAROUN; KUENZI, AMY; DOUGLASS, RICHARD

Big Sky, Montana

Congreso; Northen Rocky Mountain Conference an Infectius Disease & Enviromental Health; 2007

Sin Nombre virus (SNV) is responsible for the majority of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases in North America. The primary reservoir for SNV in the United States is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). To date, multiple mark-recapture studies have monitored seroprevalence in wild deer mouse populations and identified the characteristics of infected versus non-infected individuals in natural settings. These surveys have indicated that adult males have the highest SNV antibody seroprevalence and are thought to be responsible for the majority of transmission in the wild. Most of these studies collect samples on a monthly basis, some collect samples even less frequently. This type of sampling may overlook ecological or demographic changes that may contribute to infection rates. This project samples wild rodent populations biweekly in order to closely monitor infection rates, demographic changes, and community composition. In addition, data from this study will be compared to data collected from populations in controlled outdoor manipulative enclosure (Bagamian et al.) at the same site. Our objectives are to: 1) monitor the characteristics of an un-manipulated natural rodent population; 2) compare observed social and ecological data (scarring, growth rates, reproductive status, infection rates) in the natural population with that of the experimental enclosure populations; 3) describe population dynamics in a unmanipulated population inhabiting sagebrush-grassland environment adjacent to the enclosure population.