title: Effects of land use on plague (Yersinia pestis) activity in rodents in Tanzania.
abstract: Understanding the effects of land-use change on zoonotic disease risk is a pressing global health concern. Here, we compare prevalence of Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague, in rodents across two land-use types-agricultural and conserved-in northern Tanzania. Estimated abundance of seropositive rodents nearly doubled in agricultural sites compared with conserved sites. This relationship between land-use type and abundance of seropositive rodents is likely mediated by changes in rodent and flea community composition, particularly via an increase in the abundance of the commensal species, Mastomys natalensis, in agricultural habitats. There was mixed support for rodent species diversity negatively impacting Y. pestis seroprevalence. Together, these results suggest that land-use change could affect the risk of local transmission of plague, and raise critical questions about transmission dynamics at the interface of conserved and agricultural habitats. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding disease ecology in the context of rapidly proceeding landscape change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: McCauley
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Salkeld
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania hillary.young@lifesci.ucsb.edu.
authors.forename: Hillary S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Rhodes
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Makundi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dirzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Ralph P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Eckerlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Eric F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Lambin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gaffikin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California; Woods Institute for the Environment, Department of Biology, Department of Environmental Earth System Science, and Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia; Department of Biology, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Kristofer M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Helgen
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000662:veterinary; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D010930:Plague / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D015995:Prevalence; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D012377:Rodentia; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015047:Zoonoses