Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Ecology (MS)

Administrative Home Department

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Advisor 1

Kristin Brzeski

Advisor 2

Jared Wolfe

Committee Member 1

Stephen Techtmann

Abstract

Lyme disease is expanding in the Upper Midwest due to climate change, forest degradation, and shifting wildlife communities. Small mammals are key reservoir hosts, and their foraging behavior offers insight into environmental conditions that sustain pathogen transmission. We used DNA metabarcoding to investigate small mammal diets across seasonal, spatial, and infection gradients in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We identified dominant dietary plant and arthropod taxa, seasonal shifts, and slight variation by species, site, and Lyme infection status. Taxa associated with Lyme-positive individuals were primarily linked to moist, edge, and disturbed habitats, areas that also support ticks and disease spread. These results suggest diet can reflect habitat characteristics relevant to infection risk and support the value of metabarcoding for ecological surveillance in emerging disease systems. To complement this work, we summarized a citizen science tick collection program and found that the Upper Peninsula qualifies as a high-incidence region under CDC definitions.

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