Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, U.S.A.
Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD, U.S.A.
J Vector Ecol. 2023 Dec;48(2):89-102. doi: 10.52707/1081-1710-48.2.89.
White-footed mouse () populations can thrive in fragmented suburban and urban parks and residential spaces and play a pivotal role in the spread and prevalence of tick-borne diseases. We collected spatial data on 58 individual mice living at the intersection of county park land and residential land in suburban Howard County, MD, U.S.A. We analyzed mouse density, home-range size and overlap, and a Bayesian mixed-effects model to identify the habitats where they were found relative to where they were caught, as well as a resource selection function for general habitat use. We found that as mouse density increased, home-range size decreased. The overlap indices and the resource selection function supported territoriality coupled with site-specific space use in these suburban mouse populations. While mice occurred in open areas, forest edge, and forest, they showed a strong preference for forested areas. Interestingly, mice captured only 30 to 40 m into the forest rarely used the nearby private yards or human structures and this has direct implications for the placement of rodent-targeted tick control treatments. Our study supports the need for zoonotic disease management frameworks that are based on site-specific land cover characteristics as well as specific management objectives.
白足鼠种群在分散的郊区和城市公园及住宅区中大量繁殖，并在传播和流行蜱传疾病方面发挥着关键作用。我们收集了美国马里兰州霍华德县郊县公园土地和居民区交界处 58 只个体老鼠的空间数据。我们分析了老鼠的密度、巢区大小和重叠度，以及贝叶斯混合效应模型，以确定它们被发现的栖息地相对于被捕获的栖息地，以及一般栖息地使用的资源选择函数。我们发现，随着老鼠密度的增加，巢区大小减小。重叠指数和资源选择函数支持这些郊区老鼠种群的领地性和特定地点的空间利用。虽然老鼠出现在开阔地、森林边缘和森林中，但它们对森林地区表现出强烈的偏好。有趣的是，只在森林中捕获 30 到 40 米的老鼠很少使用附近的私人院子或人类建筑，这对有针对性的啮齿动物蜱控制处理的放置有直接影响。我们的研究支持基于特定地点的土地覆盖特征以及特定管理目标的动物传染病管理框架的必要性。
