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  1. Article ; Online: Modeling COVID-19 spread in small colleges.

    Riti Bahl / Nicole Eikmeier / Alexandra Fraser / Matthew Junge / Felicia Keesing / Kukai Nakahata / Lily Reeves

    PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e

    2021  Volume 0255654

    Abstract: We develop an agent-based model on a network meant to capture features unique to COVID-19 spread through a small residential college. We find that a safe reopening requires strong policy from administrators combined with cautious behavior from students. ... ...

    Abstract We develop an agent-based model on a network meant to capture features unique to COVID-19 spread through a small residential college. We find that a safe reopening requires strong policy from administrators combined with cautious behavior from students. Strong policy includes weekly screening tests with quick turnaround and halving the campus population. Cautious behavior from students means wearing facemasks, socializing less, and showing up for COVID-19 testing. We also find that comprehensive testing and facemasks are the most effective single interventions, building closures can lead to infection spikes in other areas depending on student behavior, and faster return of test results significantly reduces total infections.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Language English
    Publishing date 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  2. Article ; Online: The tick biocontrol agent Metarhizium brunneum (= M. anisopliae) (strain F52) does not reduce non-target arthropods.

    Ilya R Fischhoff / Felicia Keesing / Richard S Ostfeld

    PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 11, p e

    2017  Volume 0187675

    Abstract: Previous studies have found that Met52®, which contains the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum, is effective in reducing the abundance of Ixodes scapularis, the tick vector for the bacterium causing Lyme disease and for other tick-borne ... ...

    Abstract Previous studies have found that Met52®, which contains the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum, is effective in reducing the abundance of Ixodes scapularis, the tick vector for the bacterium causing Lyme disease and for other tick-borne pathogens. Given widespread interest in effective, safe methods for controlling ticks, Met52 has the potential to be used at increasing scales. The non-target impacts of Met52, as applied for tick control, have not yet been assessed. A Before-After-Control-Impact experiment was conducted to assess the effects of Met52 on non-target arthropods in lawn and forest habitats typical of residential yards. Ground-dwelling arthropods were collected using bulk sampling of soil and litter, and pitfall sampling. Arthropods were sampled once before and twice after treatment of plots with either Met52 or water (control). Multivariate general linear models were used to jointly model the abundance of arthropod orders. For each sampling method and post-spray sampling occasion, Akaike Information Criterion values were used to compare the fits of two alternative models: one that included effects of period (before vs. after spray), habitat (lawn vs. forest), and treatment (Met52 vs. control), versus a nested null model that included effects of period, and habitat, but no treatment effect. The null model was consistently better supported by the data. Significant effects were found of period and habitat but not treatment. Retrospective power analysis indicated the study had 80% power to detect a 50% reduction in arthropod abundance, as measured by bulk samples taken before versus one week after treatment. The deployment of Met52 in suburban settings is unlikely to cause meaningful reductions in the abundance of non-target arthropods.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 310
    Language English
    Publishing date 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  3. Article ; Online: Spatial variation in risk for tick-borne diseases in residential areas of Dutchess County, New York.

    Felicia Keesing / Emma Tilley / Stacy Mowry / Sahar Adish / William Bremer / Shannon Duerr / Andrew S Evans / Ilya R Fischhoff / Fiona Keating / Jennifer Pendleton / Ashley Pfister / Marissa Teator / Richard S Ostfeld

    PLoS ONE, Vol 18, Iss 11, p e

    2023  Volume 0293820

    Abstract: Although human exposure to the ticks that transmit Lyme-disease bacteria is widely considered to occur around people's homes, most studies of variation in tick abundance and infection are undertaken outside residential areas. Consequently, the patterns ... ...

    Abstract Although human exposure to the ticks that transmit Lyme-disease bacteria is widely considered to occur around people's homes, most studies of variation in tick abundance and infection are undertaken outside residential areas. Consequently, the patterns of variation in risk of human exposure to tick-borne infections in these human-dominated landscapes are poorly understood. Here, we report the results of four years of sampling for tick abundance, tick infection, tick encounters, and tick-borne disease reports on residential properties nested within six neighborhoods in Dutchess County, New York, USA, an area of high incidence for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. All properties were within neighborhoods that had been randomly assigned as placebo controls in The Tick Project; hence, none were treated to reduce tick abundance during the period of investigation, providing a unique dataset of natural variation within and between neighborhoods. We estimated the abundance of host-seeking blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in three types of habitats on residential properties-forests, lawns, and gardens. In forest and lawn habitats, some neighborhoods had consistently higher tick abundance. Properties within neighborhoods also varied consistently between years, suggesting hot spots and cold spots occurring at a small (~ 1-hectare) spatial scale. Across neighborhoods, the abundance of nymphal ticks was explained by neither the amount of forest in that neighborhood, nor by the degree of forest fragmentation. The proportion of ticks infected with three common tick-borne pathogens did not differ significantly between neighborhoods. We observed no effect of tick abundance on human encounters with ticks, nor on either human or pet cases of tick-borne diseases. However, the number of encounters between ticks and outdoor pets in a neighborhood was negatively correlated with the abundance of questing ticks in that neighborhood. Our results reinforce the need to understand how human behavior and neglected ecological factors ...
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 710
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  4. Article ; Online: Effects of Tick-Control Interventions on Tick Abundance, Human Encounters with Ticks, and Incidence of Tickborne Diseases in Residential Neighborhoods, New York, USA

    Felicia Keesing / Stacy Mowry / William Bremer / Shannon Duerr / Andrew S. Evans / Ilya R. Fischhoff / Alison F. Hinckley / Sarah A. Hook / Fiona Keating / Jennifer Pendleton / Ashley Pfister / Marissa Teator / Richard S. Ostfeld

    Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 28, Iss 5, Pp 957-

    2022  Volume 966

    Abstract: Tickborne diseases (TBDs) such as Lyme disease result in ≈500,000 diagnoses annually in the United States. Various methods can reduce the abundance of ticks at small spatial scales, but whether these methods lower incidence of TBDs is poorly understood. ... ...

    Abstract Tickborne diseases (TBDs) such as Lyme disease result in ≈500,000 diagnoses annually in the United States. Various methods can reduce the abundance of ticks at small spatial scales, but whether these methods lower incidence of TBDs is poorly understood. We conducted a randomized, replicated, fully crossed, placebo-controlled, masked experiment to test whether 2 environmentally safe interventions, the Tick Control System (TCS) and Met52 fungal spray, used separately or together, affected risk for and incidence of TBDs in humans and pets in 24 residential neighborhoods. All participating properties in a neighborhood received the same treatment. TCS was associated with fewer questing ticks and fewer ticks feeding on rodents. The interventions did not result in a significant difference in incidence of human TBDs but did significantly reduce incidence in pets. Our study is consistent with previous evidence suggesting that reducing tick abundance in residential areas might not reduce incidence of TBDs in humans.
    Keywords tickborne disease ; Lyme disease ; ticks ; Ixodes scapularis ; prevention ; vector-borne infections ; Medicine ; R ; Infectious and parasitic diseases ; RC109-216
    Subject code 610
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-05-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  5. Article ; Online: Tritrophic interactions between a fungal pathogen, a spider predator, and the blacklegged tick

    Ilya R. Fischhoff / James C. Burtis / Felicia Keesing / Richard S. Ostfeld

    Ecology and Evolution, Vol 8, Iss 16, Pp 7824-

    2018  Volume 7834

    Abstract: Abstract The blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis is the primary vector for the bacterium causing Lyme disease in eastern North America and for other medically important pathogens. This species is vulnerable to attack by fungal pathogens and arthropod ... ...

    Abstract Abstract The blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis is the primary vector for the bacterium causing Lyme disease in eastern North America and for other medically important pathogens. This species is vulnerable to attack by fungal pathogens and arthropod predators, but the impacts of interactions between biocontrol agents have not been examined. The biocontrol agent Met52®, containing the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum (=M. anisopliae), controls blacklegged ticks with efficacy comparable to chemical acaricides. The brush‐legged wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata is a predator of I. scapularis that reduces their survival under field conditions. We conducted a field microcosm experiment to assess the compatibility of Met52 and S. ocreata as tick biocontrol agents. We compared the fits of alternative models in predicting survival of unfed (flat) and blood‐fed (engorged) nymphs. We found the strongest support for a model that included negative effects of Met52 and S. ocreata on flat nymph survival. We found evidence for interference between biocontrol agents, with Met52 reducing spider survival, but we did not find a significant interaction effect between the two agents on nymph survival. For engorged nymphs, low recovery rates resulted in low statistical power to detect possible effects of biocontrol agents. We found that nymph questing activity was lower when the spider was active above the leaf litter than when the spider was unobserved. This provides the first evidence that predation cues might affect behavior important for tick fitness and pathogen transmission. This study presents field microcosm evidence that the biopesticide Met52 and spider Schizocosa ocreata each reduced survival of blacklegged ticks Ixodes scapularis. Met52 reduced spider survival. Potential interference between Met52 and the spider should be examined at larger scales, where overlap patterns may differ. Ticks were more likely to quest when the spider was inactive, suggesting the ticks changed their behavior to reduce danger.
    Keywords antipredator behavior ; intraguild predation ; Ixodes scapularis ; Metarhizium brunneum ; microcosm ; nonconsumptive effects ; Ecology ; QH540-549.5
    Language English
    Publishing date 2018-08-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Wiley
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  6. Article: Tick‐borne disease risk in a forest food web

    Ostfeld, Richard S / Charles D. Canham / Felicia Keesing / Kelly Oggenfuss / Taal Levi

    Ecology. 2018 July, v. 99, no. 7

    2018  

    Abstract: Changes to the community ecology of hosts for zoonotic pathogens, particularly rodents, are likely to influence the emergence and prevalence of zoonotic diseases worldwide. However, the complex interactions between abiotic factors, pathogens, vectors, ... ...

    Abstract Changes to the community ecology of hosts for zoonotic pathogens, particularly rodents, are likely to influence the emergence and prevalence of zoonotic diseases worldwide. However, the complex interactions between abiotic factors, pathogens, vectors, hosts, and both food resources and predators of hosts are difficult to disentangle. Here we (1) use 19 yr of data from six large field plots in southeastern New York to compare the effects of hypothesized drivers of interannual variation in Lyme disease risk, including the abundance of acorns, rodents, and deer, as well as a series of climate variables; and (2) employ landscape epidemiology to explore how variation in predator community structure and forest cover influences spatial variation in the infection prevalence of ticks for the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, and two other important tick‐borne pathogens, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti. Acorn‐driven increases in the abundance of mice were correlated with a lagged increase in the abundance of questing nymph‐stage Ixodes scapularis ticks infected with Lyme disease bacteria. Abundance of white‐tailed deer 2 yr prior also correlated with increased density of infected nymphal ticks, although the effect was weak. Density of rodents in the current year was a strong negative predictor of nymph density, apparently because high current abundance of these hosts can remove nymphs from the host‐seeking population. Warm, dry spring or winter weather was associated with reduced density of infected nymphs. At the landscape scale, the presence of functionally diverse predator communities or of bobcats, the only obligate carnivore, was associated with reduced infection prevalence of I. scapularis nymphs with all three zoonotic pathogens. In the case of Lyme disease, infection prevalence increased where coyotes were present but smaller predators were displaced or otherwise absent. For all pathogens, infection prevalence was lowest when forest cover within a 1 km radius was high. Taken together, our results suggest that a food web perspective including bottom‐up and top‐down forcing is needed to understand drivers of tick‐borne disease risk, a result that may also apply to other rodent‐borne zoonoses. Prevention of exposure based on ecological indicators of heightened risk should help protect public health.
    Keywords Anaplasma phagocytophilum ; Babesia microti ; bacteria ; Borrelia burgdorferi ; Canis latrans ; carnivores ; climatic factors ; community structure ; deer ; environmental indicators ; food webs ; forests ; fruits ; host seeking ; hosts ; Ixodes scapularis ; landscapes ; Lyme disease ; mice ; nymphs ; Odocoileus virginianus ; pathogens ; predators ; public health ; risk ; spring ; ticks ; weather ; winter ; zoonoses ; New York
    Language English
    Dates of publication 2018-07
    Size p. 1562-1573.
    Publishing place John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
    Document type Article
    Note JOURNAL ARTICLE
    ZDB-ID 1797-8
    ISSN 0012-9658
    ISSN 0012-9658
    DOI 10.1002/ecy.2386
    Database NAL-Catalogue (AGRICOLA)

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  7. Article ; Online: A coupled forage-grazer model predicts viability of livestock production and wildlife habitat at the regional scale

    Virginia A. Kowal / Sharon M. Jones / Felicia Keesing / Brian F. Allan / Jennifer M. Schieltz / Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer

    Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-

    2019  Volume 12

    Abstract: Abstract Informed management of livestock on rangelands underpins both the livelihoods of communities that depend on livestock for sustenance, and the conservation of wildlife that often depend on livestock-dominated landscapes for habitat. Understanding ...

    Abstract Abstract Informed management of livestock on rangelands underpins both the livelihoods of communities that depend on livestock for sustenance, and the conservation of wildlife that often depend on livestock-dominated landscapes for habitat. Understanding spatial patterns of rangeland productivity is therefore crucial to designing global development strategies that balance social and environmental benefits. Here we introduce a new rangeland production model that dynamically links the Century ecosystem model with a basic ruminant diet selection and physiology model. With lightweight input data requirements that can be met with global sources, the model estimates the viability of broad livestock management decisions, and suggests possible implications of these management decisions for grazing wildlife. Using minimal field data, the new rangeland production model enables the reliable estimation of cattle stocking density; this is an important predictor of the viability of livestock production and forage available for grazing wildlife.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 333
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Nature Publishing Group
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  8. Article: Quantifying dilution and amplification in a community of hosts for tick‐borne pathogens

    Levi, Taal / Felicia Keesing / Robert D. Holt / Michael Barfield / Richard S. Ostfeld

    Ecological applications. 2016 Mar., v. 26, no. 2

    2016  

    Abstract: Recent controversy over whether biodiversity reduces disease risk (dilution effect) has focused on the ecology of Lyme disease, a tick‐borne zoonosis. A criticism of the dilution effect is that increasing host species richness might amplify disease ... ...

    Abstract Recent controversy over whether biodiversity reduces disease risk (dilution effect) has focused on the ecology of Lyme disease, a tick‐borne zoonosis. A criticism of the dilution effect is that increasing host species richness might amplify disease risk, assuming that total host abundance, and therefore feeding opportunities for ticks, increase with species richness. In contrast, a dilution effect is expected when poor quality hosts for ticks and pathogens (dilution hosts) divert tick blood meals away from competent hosts. Even if host densities are additive, the relationship between host density and tick encounters can be nonlinear if the number of ticks that encounter a host is a saturating function of host density, which occurs if ticks aggregate on the remaining hosts rather than failing to find a host before death. Both dilution and amplification are theoretical possibilities, and assessing which is more prevalent required detailed analyses of empirical systems. We used field data to explore the degree of tick redistribution onto fewer individuals with variation in intraspecific host density and novel data‐driven models for tick dynamics to determine how changes in vertebrate community composition influence the density of nymphs infected with the Lyme bacterium. To be conservative, we allowed total host density to increase additively with species richness. Our long‐term field studies found that larval and nymphal ticks redistribute onto fewer individuals as host densities decline, that a large proportion of nymphs and adults find hosts, and that mice and chipmunks feed a large proportion of nymphs. White‐footed mice, eastern chipmunks, short‐tailed shrews, and masked shrews were important amplification hosts that greatly increased the density of infected nymphs. Gray squirrels and Virginia opossums were important dilution hosts. Removing these two species increased the maximum number of larvae attached to amplification hosts by 57%. Raccoons and birds were minor dilution hosts under some conditions. Even under the assumption of additive community assembly, some species are likely to reduce the density of infected nymphs as diversity increases. If the assumption of additivity is relaxed, then species that reduce the density of small mammals through predation or competition might substantially reduce disease risk.
    Keywords Didelphis virginiana ; Lyme disease ; Peromyscus leucopus ; Procyon lotor ; Sciurus carolinensis ; Tamias striatus ; adults ; bacteria ; birds ; blood meal ; community structure ; death ; field experimentation ; hosts ; intraspecific variation ; larvae ; mice ; models ; nymphs ; pathogens ; predation ; risk ; shrews ; small mammals ; species diversity ; ticks ; zoonoses
    Language English
    Dates of publication 2016-03
    Size p. 484-498.
    Publishing place John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
    Document type Article
    Note JOURNAL ARTICLE
    ZDB-ID 1074505-1
    ISSN 1939-5582 ; 1051-0761
    ISSN (online) 1939-5582
    ISSN 1051-0761
    DOI 10.1890/15-0122
    Database NAL-Catalogue (AGRICOLA)

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  9. Article ; Online: An Experimental Test of Competition among Mice, Chipmunks, and Squirrels in Deciduous Forest Fragments.

    Jesse L Brunner / Shannon Duerr / Felicia Keesing / Mary Killilea / Holly Vuong / Richard S Ostfeld

    PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 6, p e

    2013  Volume 66798

    Abstract: Mixed hardwood forests of the northeast United States support a guild of granivorous/omnivorous rodents including gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), and white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). These species ... ...

    Abstract Mixed hardwood forests of the northeast United States support a guild of granivorous/omnivorous rodents including gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), and white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). These species coincide geographically, co-occur locally, and consume similar food resources. Despite their idiosyncratic responses to landscape and patch variables, patch occupancy models suggest that competition may influence their respective distributions and abundances, and accordingly their influence on the rest of the forest community. Experimental studies, however, are wanting. We present the result of a large-scale experiment in which we removed white-footed mice or gray squirrels from small, isolated forest fragments in Dutchess County, New York, and added these mammals to other fragments in order to alter the abundance of these two species. We then used mark-recapture analyses to quantify the population-level and individual-level effects on resident mice, squirrels, and chipmunks. Overall, we found little evidence of competition. There were essentially no within-season numerical responses to changes in the abundance of putative competitors. Moreover, while individual-level responses (apparent survival and capture probability) did vary with competitor densities in some models, these effects were often better explained by site-specific parameters and were restricted to few of the 19 sites we studied. With only weak or nonexistent competition among these three common rodent species, we expect their patterns of habitat occupancy and population dynamics to be largely independent of one another.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 590
    Language English
    Publishing date 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  10. Article ; Online: Reservoir Competence of Wildlife Host Species for Babesia microti

    Michelle H. Hersh / Michael Tibbetts / Mia Strauss / Richard S. Ostfeld / Felicia Keesing

    Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 18, Iss 12, Pp 1951-

    2012  Volume 1957

    Abstract: Human babesiosis is an increasing health concern in the northeastern United States, where the causal agent, Babesia microti, is spread through the bite of infected Ixodes scapularis ticks. We sampled 10 mammal and 4 bird species within a vertebrate host ... ...

    Abstract Human babesiosis is an increasing health concern in the northeastern United States, where the causal agent, Babesia microti, is spread through the bite of infected Ixodes scapularis ticks. We sampled 10 mammal and 4 bird species within a vertebrate host community in southeastern New York to quantify reservoir competence (mean percentage of ticks infected by an individual host) using real-time PCR. We found reservoir competence levels >17% in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), raccoons (Procyon lotor), short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda), and eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), and <6% but >0% in all other species, including all 4 bird species. Data on the relative contributions of multiple host species to tick infection with B. microti and level of genetic differentiation between B. microti strains transmitted by different hosts will help advance understanding of the spread of human babesiosis.
    Keywords Babesia microti ; babesiosis ; bacteria ; disease reservoirs ; ecology ; Ixodes scapularis ; Medicine ; R ; Infectious and parasitic diseases ; RC109-216
    Language English
    Publishing date 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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