COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Hot Today, Cold Tomorrow? Variable Persistence of Generalist Predator Hot Spots and the Dynamics of their Prey and Parasites

自然界并不是一成不变的：它对任何物种或过程都有“热点”和“冷点”。例如，在花栗鼠密度适中的森林地带，一些特定的地点(“热点”)比其他地点(“冷点”)更常被花栗鼠光顾。这样的热点和冷点的存在可能会影响疾病传播的速度或猎物物种是否灭绝等过程。这项研究进一步解决了这个问题，具体研究了热点和冷点的持续如何影响白脚老鼠和花栗鼠对猎物(吉普赛飞蛾和地面筑巢的鸟类)和寄生虫(扁虱和莱姆病细菌)的影响。这些啮齿动物的种群将被操纵以创建永久性(3年)和暂时性(1年)冷点，并将在两种处理之间比较它们猎物的存活率和壁虱的感染率。这项研究将展示关键小型哺乳动物冷热区的持续存在如何影响人类健康(莱姆病风险)、森林健康(吉普赛飞蛾暴发风险)和鸣禽的数量。该项目将通过与教育工作者合作创建的、面向6-12年级的网络资源，为小学教育做出贡献。该项目还将为本科生和研究生提供研究培训。最后，这项研究将为加强生物病虫害控制、保护稀有物种或减少疾病传播的努力提供参考。

Nature is not uniform: it shows "hot spots" and "cold spots" for any species or process. For example, in a forest patch with a moderately dense population of chipmunks, some particular sites ("hot spots") get visited by chipmunks much more often than others ("cold spots"). The existence of such hot and cold spots can affect processes such as how rapidly diseases are transmitted or whether or not a prey species goes extinct. This study takes the problem a step further, by specifically examining how the persistence of hot and cold spots affects the impact of white-footed mice and chipmunks on their prey (gypsy moths and ground-nesting birds) and parasites (ticks and Lyme disease bacteria). Populations of these rodents will be manipulated to create permanent (3 years) and temporary (1 year) cold spots, and survival of their prey and infection prevalence of ticks will be compared between the two treatments. The research will show how the persistence of hot and cold spots of pivotal small mammals affects human health (Lyme disease risk), forest health (gypsy moth outbreak risk), and abundance of songbirds. The project will contribute to primary education through a web-based resource created in collaboration with educators and targeted toward grades 6-12. The project will also provide research training for both undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, the research will inform efforts to enhance biological pest control, conserve rare species, or reduce spread of diseases.