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

自然界并不是统一的：它对任何物种或过程都显示出“热点”和“冷点”。 例如，在一片有着中等密度的花栗鼠的森林中，一些特定的地点（“热点”）比其他地方（“冷点”）更容易被花栗鼠光顾。 这种热点和冷点的存在可以影响疾病传播的速度或猎物物种是否灭绝等过程。 这项研究将这个问题更进一步，具体研究了热点和冷点的持续性如何影响白足小鼠和花栗鼠对猎物（舞毒蛾和地面筑巢鸟类）和寄生虫（蜱虫和莱姆病细菌）的影响。 将对这些啮齿动物种群进行操作，以产生永久性（3年）和暂时性（1年）冷点，并将比较两种处理之间的猎物存活率和蜱虫感染率。 该研究将展示关键小型哺乳动物的热点和冷点的持续性如何影响人类健康（莱姆病风险），森林健康（舞毒蛾爆发风险）以及鸣禽的数量。该项目将通过与教育工作者合作创建的、针对6-12年级的网络资源，为初等教育做出贡献。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虫害控制、保护稀有物种或减少疾病传播提供信息。

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.