Contact: Katey Pelican, pelicank@umn.edu
Ecosystem Health Initiative, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, CVM
Research description:
Our research group takes broad interdisciplinary approach to understanding the ecology of diseases that affect wildlife, domestic animal, and human populations. One of the pressing challenges in disease ecology is understanding how infections are spread between individuals, and how the risk of disease spread might be impacted by
variation in the landscape. So we have designed studies to find out how differences in forest habitat alter the small mammal community, and how in turn these differences in community structure shape contact rates between animals and potential for disease spread across varied landscapes.
Summer UROP opportunity:
You can be a part of our research at the (lovely, famous, and conveniently close-by) Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. The summer field work will include four weeks (1 week each in May, June, July, August) of small mammal trapping. We will mark, release, and recapture animals to estimate the abundance and diversity of small
mammals in different forest habitats. We will also collect several samples for disease screening and genetic analysis. After samples are collected and data entered, student participants will have several options to shape their involvement in the analytical stages of the research. Student projects could focus on either the ecological or epidemiological aspects of the research.
Skills you should have:
You should be organized and able to coordinate multiple tasks
You should be physically able and willing to work outdoors, hot or inclement weather possible
You should have basic data collection / entry skills (data sheets, excel spreadsheets)
Skills you could learn:
Trapping and handling small mammals
Using mark-recapture methods to estimate populations
Using GIS to map habitat variations
Collecting basic epidemiological data to monitor population health
