Magnusson, Magnus
(2015).
Cyclic voles and Puumala hantavirus in a changing boreal landscape.
Diss. (sammanfattning/summary)
Umeå :
Sveriges lantbruksuniv.,
Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae, 1652-6880
; 2015:4
ISBN 978-91-576-8206-2
eISBN 978-91-576-8207-9
[Doctoral thesis]
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PDF
1MB |
Abstract
Land-use change is causing extinction of species globally, while also increasing the risk of disease exposure to humans through augmented interactions with wildlife, when humans live and work in manipulated ecosystems or when animals seek shelter/refuge in man-made infrastructure.
Forestry is one such activity, which is continually altering forest structure worldwide, causing habitat loss for many specialized forest species. This study investigates the population ecology of three cyclic vole species, Myodes rufocanus, Myodes glareolus and Microtus agrestis, in relation to intensive forestry in northern Sweden. M. glareolus is also the natural reservoir of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) which is important from a public health perspective since PUUV causes nephropathia epidemica in humans. M. rufocanus and M. agrestis declined substantially in density and distribution during the 1970-80s while M. glareolus only marginally declined and is still the most common species in the region.
The decline of M. rufocanus was related to habitat loss. The cumulated impact from long-term clear-cutting explained local extinctions of M. rufocanus. The species is also dependent on maintained connectivity between old forest and shelter-providing stone fields. In contrast, local extinction of M. agrestis was not related to forestry, suggesting action of another strong driver. M. agrestis re-colonized most of the study area during 2010-2011, two years that were characterised by cold winters and a thick snow cover, suggesting a climatic driver in this case. Occurrence of PUUV infected M. glareolus was negatively related to the impact of long-term clear-cutting in the surrounding landscape. PUUV infected M. glareolus survived during low density periods of the vole cycle in old forests.
In summary, the main driver of the decline in density and distribution of M. rufocanus appeared to be intensive forestry. PUUV infection dynamics also appeared to be related to forestry. Since land-use changes and climate changes have coincided in Fennoscandian forests, I suggest that future studies should focus on estimating the relative impact of these two factors on pathogen and vole population dynamics.
Authors/Creators: | Magnusson, Magnus | ||||||||||
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Title: | Cyclic voles and Puumala hantavirus in a changing boreal landscape | ||||||||||
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Series/Journal: | Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae (1652-6880) | ||||||||||
Year of publishing : | 2015 | ||||||||||
Depositing date: | 10 December 2014 | ||||||||||
Number: | 2015:4 | ||||||||||
Number of Pages: | 50 | ||||||||||
Papers/manuscripts: |
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Place of Publication: | Umeå | ||||||||||
Publisher: | Institutionen för vilt, fisk och miljö, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet | ||||||||||
ISBN for printed version: | 978-91-576-8206-2 | ||||||||||
ISBN for electronic version: | 978-91-576-8207-9 | ||||||||||
ISSN: | 1652-6880 | ||||||||||
Language: | English | ||||||||||
Publication Type: | Doctoral thesis | ||||||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||||||
Agris subject categories.: | L Animal production > L20 Animal ecology | ||||||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Zoology (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||||||||
Agrovoc terms: | voles, microtus, hantavirus, human diseases, disease transmission, boreal forests, clear felling, climatic factors, habitats, animal population, population ecology, endangered species, sweden | ||||||||||
Keywords: | Boreal forest, Clear-cuts, Connectivity, Forestry, Habitat loss, Myodes rufocanus, Myodes glareolus, Microtus agrestis, Puumala Hantavirus, Spatiotemporal changes | ||||||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2258 | ||||||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2258 | ||||||||||
ID Code: | 11698 | ||||||||||
Faculty: | S - Faculty of Forest Sciences | ||||||||||
Department: | (S) > Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies | ||||||||||
External funders: | Helge Ax:sson Johnsson Foundation and Stiftelsen Oscar och Lili Lamms minne | ||||||||||
Deposited By: | Mr Magnus Magnusson | ||||||||||
Deposited On: | 11 Dec 2014 10:27 | ||||||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 10 Sep 2020 13:41 |
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