Geographic Analysis of West Nile Virus in the Upper Minnesota River
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Minnesota State University, Mankato Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects 2014 Geographic Analysis of West Nile Virus in the Upper Minnesota River Valley: A GIS and Multi- temporal Remote Sensing Approach Matthew oM ore Minnesota State University - Mankato Follow this and additional works at: http://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds Part of the Geographic Information Sciences Commons, and the Remote Sensing Commons Recommended Citation Moore, Matthew, "Geographic Analysis of West Nile Virus in the Upper Minnesota River Valley: A GIS and Multi-temporal Remote Sensing Approach" (2014). Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects. Paper 350. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. Geographic Analysis of West Nile Virus in the Upper Minnesota River Valley: A GIS and Multi-temporal Remote Sensing Approach By Matthew John Moore A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science In Geography Concentrations in Geographic Information Science And Remote Sensing Science Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota May 2014 Dedication This piece is dedicated to my family, parents and brother, for if it were not for their continued support the pursuit and completion of an advanced degree would not have been possible. I thank them dearly for my passionate ability to embrace life, freely take risks and remain humble despite all my personal achievements. A special thanks to Dr. Delany Sturgeon for never doubting that we could overcome anything and I would thrive in all my endeavors. Acknowledgement I would like to extend great thanks to the faculty at Minnesota State University in Mankato and specifically the Geography department. I would also like to thank all of my professors during my time here for making my education at MNSU outstanding and unparalleled in all aspects. It is the professors that make a program what it is and those here are easily approachable, have great passion for their craft and bear an immense depth of knowledge that is always made available. The greatest of appreciate is extended directly to my committee members; Forrest Wilkerson, PhD, Ginger Schmid, PhD and Cindy Miller, PhD, without their vast knowledge this project would have been much more difficult. "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning." - Albert Einstein i Dedication............................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgement................................................................................................................i List of figures.......................................................................................................................v List of tables......................................................................................................................vii Abstract……………………………………………………………………............…….viii Table of Contents Chapter 1: An Exploration of Medical Geography and Vector-Borne Disease I. Introduction……..................……………......………….........……………………….....1 Medical Geography vs. Health Geography….……….............................…………………1 Humans and emerging infectious disease..…………......…………………………………3 The history and impact of West Nile Virus..………………………………….…….....….5 II. Research Outline……………………………………………..……….....…………….13 Problem statement..……....…………………….…………….....…….………….15 Research problem………..………………………….……………….....………...18 Research objective………………..…...…….…………………………....……....20 III. Research variables...........…………………………………………………….....…....21 Spatial distribution.........………………………………………………......……...21 Physical environment………………....……...………………...………….……...21 Soil..........................................................................................................................22 Climate....................................................................................................................22 Agriculture..............................................................................................................22 Water……………………………………………………………………………...23 Urban……………………………………………………………………………..23 Population: county level….....................................................................................23 ii IV. Methods and Data...........……………………………………………..……….....…..24 Expected results......................................................................................................26 V. Research significance...........………………………………………….....…................26 Chapter 2: Medical Geographic Methods and Diffusion Theory I. Introduction……..................…………...…......…......………………………………...27 History of Medical Geography and Major Contributors....……..............………..28 Major Contributors...................................................…………......………………28 John Snow................................................................………………….…………..29 William Farr............................................................................................................31 Daniel Drake...........................................................................................................35 II. Geographic Analysis: Remote Sensing and GIS……………………………………...35 III. Diffusion Theory.…………………………………………….....……………………37 Chapter 3: The Human and Physical Geography of Minnesota I. Introduction……..................…....…………..............…………………………42 II. Population Geography…………..………………………………….....………………43 III. Climate...........….…………....……………………………............………………….46 Temperature............................................................................................................49 Precipitation............................................................................................................49 IV. Topographic landscape...........…………………………………………….................50 Biomes....................................................................................................................50 Soils........................................................................................................................52 Lakes......................................................................................................................56 Wetlands................................................................................................................56 iii Chapter 4: Geographic Analysis and Patterns of West Nile Virus: 2002-2012 I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………58 II. Analysis of Population and Population Change…………….………………………...58 Discussion..............................................................................................................60 III. Analysis of Human WNV Cases...........….………………………………………….61 Discussion..............................................................................................................65 IV. Analysis of Climate Factors...........…………………………………………………..67 Discussion..............................................................................................................75 V. Analysis of Land Surface................…………………………………………………..75 Elevation................................................................................................................76 Discussion..............................................................................................................79 VI. Analysis of Forest Cover...............….……………………………………………….79 Big Stone County...................................................................................................79 Nicollet County......................................................................................................83 VII. Analysis of Agriculture................…………………...……………………………...87 Discussion..............................................................................................................92 VIII. Analysis of Water Surface and Wetlands...............……….……………………….93 Big Stone County...................................................................................................96 Nicollet County.....................................................................................................100 Discussion……………………………………………………………………….104 IX. Analysis of Soils......................................................………………………………..105 X. Final Analysis Discussion......................................................……………………….110 iv Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions I. Results...........……..................…………..…..............……………………..................111 II. Data Limitations.....................................................…………………………………..113 III. Research Implications............................….…………….………………..………….114 IV. Conclusion........................................………………………………………………..115 V. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………117 List of Figures Figure 1: Recently known WNV epidemics maps………………………………...............7 Figure 2: Center for Disease and Prevention transmission cycle diagram………..……....8 Figure 3: Culex pipiens – culprit vector in the transmission of WNV................................9