Estimating Sources of Valley Fever Pathogen Propagation in Southern Arizona: A Remote Sensing Approach Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Pianalto, Frederick Scott, 1961- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 05:02:32 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/311322 1 ESTIMATING SOURCES OF VALLEY FEVER PATHOGEN PROPAGATION IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA: A REMOTE SENSING APPROACH By Frederick S. Pianalto ____________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY AND DEVELOPMENT In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2013 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Frederick S. Pianalto, entitled Estimating Sources of Valley Fever Pathogen Propagation in Southern Arizona: A Remote Sensing Approach, and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _____________________________________________________ Date: (11/26/2013) Andrew C. Comrie _____________________________________________________ Date: (11/26/2013) Charles F. Hutchinson _____________________________________________________ Date: (11/26/2013) Stuart E. Marsh _____________________________________________________ Date: (11/26/2013) Stephen R. Yool Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. _____________________________________________________ Date: 12/04/2013 Dissertation Director: Stephen R. Yool 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Frederick S. Pianalto 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The incredible Geography and Development staff, including Linda, John, Gabe, Maria, Tawny, and Liz, and Alicia at the GIDP, have reliably provided me with abundant support over the years, in terms of time, equipment, funding, and cheer. Hats off to them! My dissertation committee, Dr. Comrie, Dr. Hutchinson, Dr. Marsh, and Dr. Yool, ensured that my comprehensive exams and dissertation defense were challenging, and rewarding experiences. I am genuinely impressed with their attention and helpful critique. I extend many thanks to Dr. Yool. As my advisor, he has been a patient sounding board for my research travails, and he provided just the right amount of advice. I will be at loss without our weekly progress meetings! 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………...….6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……...….…………………………………………….8 1.1 Introduction............….…………….……...………………………………………8 1.2 Explanation of the Problem………………...…………………………………… 12 1.3 Research Questions………………………………………………………………16 1.4 Approach…………………………………………………………………………17 1.5 Dissertation Format…...…………………………………………………………19 1.6 Research Plan Figure.………………..…………………………………………..20 CHAPTER 2: PRESENT STUDY…………………………………………...…………21 2.1 Nocturnal desert rodent abundance distribution in southwestern Arizona estimated by regression methods with remote sensing-derived data……….……..…21 2.2 Fugitive dust emission sources arising from construction: a remote sensing approach.………..…………….……………………………………………………..22 2.3 Estimating environmental sources of Valley Fever propagation in southern Arizona with remote sensing……………………….…...….………………………..22 2.4 Future work…………………...………………………………………….….…..23 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………..…25 APPENDIX A: NOCTURNAL DESERT RODENT ABUNDANCE DISTRIBUTION IN SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA ESTIMATED BY REGRESSION METHODS WITH REMOTE SENSING-DERIVED DATA………28 APPENDIX B: FUGITIVE DUST EMISSION SOURCES ARISING FROM CONSTRUCTION: A REMOTE SENSING APPROACH…………………..........104 APPENDIX C: ESTIMATING ENVIRONMENTAL SOURCES OF VALLEY FEVER PROPAGATION IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA WITH REMOTE SENSING…..…………………………………………………….………………….…143 6 ABSTRACT Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) is an environmentally-mediated respiratory disease caused by the inhalation of airborne spores from the fungi Coccidioides spp. The fungi reside in arid and semi-arid soils of the Americas. The disease has increased epidemically in Arizona and other areas within the last two decades. Despite this increase, the ecology of the fungi remains obscure, and environmental antecedents of the disease are largely unstudied. Two sources of soil disturbance, hypothesized to affect soil ecology and initiate spore dissemination, are investigated. Nocturnal desert rodents interact substantially with the soil substrate. Rodents are hypothesized to act as a reservoir of coccidioidomycosis, a mediator of soil properties, and a disseminator of fungal spores. Rodent distributions are poorly mapped for the study area. We build automated multi-linear regression models and decision tree models for ten rodent species using rodent trapping data from the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (ORPI) in southwest Arizona with a combination of surface temperature, a vegetation index and its texture, and a suite of topographic rasters. Surface temperature, derived from Landsat TM thermal images, is the most widely selected predictive variable in both automated methods. Construction-related soil disturbance (e.g. road construction, trenching, land stripping, and earthmoving) is a significant source of fugitive dust, which decreases air quality and may carry soil pathogens. Annual differencing of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) mid-infrared images is used to create change images, and thresholded change areas are associated with coordinates of local dust inspections. The output metric identifies 7 source areas of soil disturbance, and it estimates the annual amount of dust-producing surface area for eastern Pima County spanning 1994 through 2009. Spatially explicit construction-related soil disturbance and rodent abundance data are compared with coccidioidomycosis incidence data using rank order correlation and regression methods. Construction-related soil disturbance correlates strongly with annual county-wide incidence. It also correlates with Tucson periphery incidence aggregated to zip codes. Abundance values for the desert pocket mouse (Chaetodipus penicillatus), derived from a soil-adjusted vegetation index, aspect (northing) and thermal radiance, correlate with total study period incidence aggregated to zip code. 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 Disciplines Health geography is the application of spatial information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health, disease and health care. Health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease” (WHO, 2006). Health geography, a broad discipline, it is situated in a complex interplay of environmental factors, including physical, biological, economic, social and cultural dimensions. Historically, health geography is considered to be divided into two streams: 1) the geographies of health and disease, with descriptive and analytical research quantifying disease frequencies, distributions, and characteristics of susceptibility; and 2) the geography of health care, such as facility location, accessibility and utilization (Meade and Earickson, 2000). Medical geography, as a subdiscipline, is the study of the relation between geographic factors and disease (Philo, 2009). Inherent is an after-the-fact positioning for treatment and the study of disease. Medical geography focuses on “who has what disease where” (Meade and Earickson, 2000). Historically, it has been treated as a tool for the application of geographical methods to medical problems. Litva and Eyles (1995) assert that its atheoretical nature is merely an appearance; it has been influenced by positivist philosophy, where knowledge and information is derived from logical, mathematical treatments and empirical evidence. Medical geography has become increasingly concerned with health geography as a behavioral and social construction, and disease 9 ecology as an interface between the natural, physical world and the cultural dimension of existence. Epidemiology, a science or discipline in its own right, focuses on the prevalence and spread of disease in a community and on the health of human populations. It is often considered the key scientific underpinning of public health. It generally is concerned with strict