Host Contributions to the Force of Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti Transmission Differ at Edges of and within a Small Habitat Patch
Heidi K. Goethert, Sam R. Telford
Abstract
Habitat fragmentation is thought to be a main factor in the emergence of Lyme disease and other deer tick-transmitted infections. The patchwork of forest and edges promotes altered biodiversity, favoring the abundance of generalist rodents, such as white footed mice, heretofore considered a key tick and reservoir host in the northeastern United States. We used tick bloodmeal analyses to directly identify the hosts from which nymphal deer ticks became infected. We demonstrate that there is considerable microfocality in host contributions to the cohort of infected ticks and that shrews, although they fed fewer ticks than mice, disproportionately influenced the force of pathogen transmission in our site. The venue of transmission of certain deer tick-transmitted agents may comprise a habitat scale of 10 m or fewer and depend on alternative small mammal hosts such as shrews.