University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2019 Rodent assemblages and rodent associated pathogens in a counter-urbanizing landscape Anna Christine Peterson University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Peterson, Anna Christine, "Rodent assemblages and rodent associated pathogens in a counter-urbanizing landscape. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2019. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5409 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Anna Christine Peterson entitled "Rodent assemblages and rodent associated pathogens in a counter-urbanizing landscape." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Michael Blum, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Monica Papeş, Daniel Simberloff, Rebecca Trout Fryxell Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Rodent assemblages and rodent associated pathogens in a counter-urbanizing landscape A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Anna Christine Peterson May 2019 Copyright © 2019 by Anna Peterson All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the people of New Orleans. Especially those whose lives have been personally touched by the events discussed throughout this document. May we all demonstrate such resiliency and courage. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my parents Brent and Shirley Peterson, and my brothers Justin and Max Peterson for their enduring support and encouragement. Also Kelsy Been and Hank Bark for their un-ending support. Additionally, I would like to thank the following people for supporting the work presented in this dissertation. My dissertation advisor Dr. Michael Blum and my committee at both Tulane: Dr. Tom Sherry, Dr. Caz Taylor, and Dr. Valerie McKenzie, and at University of Tennessee: Dr. Monica Papeş, Dr. Dan Simberloff, and Dr. Rebecca Trout Fryxell. I would also like to acknowledge my past and current lab-mates: Bruno Ghersi, Dr. Erick Gagne, Dr. Rebecca Hazen, Dr. Kristine Moody, Dr. Rosalyn Rael, Dr. Fernando Alda, Dr. Candice Lumibao, Dr. Avery Schurer, and especially Jenn Summers. Members of the CNH team, including: Dr. Amy Lesen, Dr. Wayne Zipperer, Dr. Josh Lewis, David Baker, Dr. Kevin Gotham, Dr. Richard Campanella, Dr. Jamie Childs, Dr. Elsio Wunder, and Shelley Meaux. As well as all of those from the City of New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board, including: Dr. Claudia Riegal, Timmy Madere, Friede Bauder, Tatiana Barre, Abby Balliviero, and Phil Smith. Additionally, all of the field and laboratory assistants that contributed to this work including: Alex Gulachenski, Evan Ruda, Stephanie Piper, Harry Rahn, Amanda Tun, Sarah Sugarman, Rebecca Wang, Hevin Patel, Shanice Triplett, and James Haydel. This work could not have been done without all of their unending patience, dedication and support. For funding this work, I would like to acknowledge the Tulane-Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, the Tulane ByWater Institute, the Tulane University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the National Science Foundation (BCS-0948993, BCS- 1313703), and the Louisiana Board of Regents. This work was conducted in accordance with Tulane University IACUC approved protocols 0451 and 0460. iv ABSTRACT Human population declines in urban centers (also known as counter-urbanization) can result in increased levels of vacancy and infrastructure loss, though relatively little is known regarding the ecological outcomes of this type of landscape change. The abundance and diversity of pest and zoonotic pathogen hosts are predicted to increase in counter-urbanizing environments, giving rise to a novel human-animal interface. Furthermore, the human-animal interface is a key location for zoonotic pathogen emergence, thus, understanding how host communities shift in regard to counter-urbanization can lend insight into risk of zoonotic pathogens in these areas. In this dissertation, I investigate the abundance and diversity of rodent hosts across a counter-urbanizing environment in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA to understand how features of the urban environment shape rodent assemblages and the risk of zoonotic pathogens. I demonstrate that rodent abundance and diversity increase in areas with higher levels of vacancy, and that increased rodent abundance and diversity also translate to increased risk from some zoonotic pathogens. However, this work also indicates that not all zoonotic pathogens show similar patterns across the landscape. In this work I provide practical insight into specific environmental and sociological risk factors associated with rodent abundance and zoonotic pathogens, while also leveraging the gradient of rodent abundance and diversity present in the counter-urbanizing environment of New Orleans to test predictions regarding relationships between host diversity, host abundance, pathogen prevalence, and diversity. v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 References .................................................................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER I RODENT ASSEMBLAGE STRUCTURE REFLECTS SOCIOECOLOGICAL MOSAICS OF COUNTER-URBANIZATION ACROSS POST-KATRINA NEW ORLEANS ........................................ 6 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 15 Discussion.................................................................................................................................. 18 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 22 References ................................................................................................................................ 23 Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER II CARRIAGE LOADS AND DIVERSITY OF PATHOGENIC LEPTOSPIRA INCREASES WITH RODENT HOST ABUNDANCE AND CO-OCCURRENCE ACROSS POST-KATRINA NEW ORLEANS 38 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 39 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 39 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 42 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 47 Discussion.................................................................................................................................. 50 References ................................................................................................................................ 54 Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER III RODENT-BORNE BARTONELLA INFECTION VARIES ACCORDING TO HOST SPECIES WITHIN AND AMONG CITIES ................................................................................................ 72 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 73 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 73 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 74 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 77 Discussion.................................................................................................................................. 79 References ...............................................................................................................................