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Vector-Borne Pathogens in Ectoparasites Collected from High-Elevation Pika Populations

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Abstract

The American pika, Ochotona princeps, is projected to decline throughout North America as climate change reduces its range, and pikas have already disappeared from several locations. In addition to climate, disease spillover from lower elevation mammalian species might affect pikas. We sampled pika fleas in Colorado and Montana across elevations ranging from 2896 to 3612 m and screened them for the presence of DNA from rodent-associated bacterial pathogens (Bartonella species and Yersinia pestis) to test the hypothesis that flea exchange between pikas and rodents may lead to occurrence of rodent-associated pathogens in pika ectoparasites. We collected 275 fleas from 74 individual pikas at 5 sites in Colorado and one site in Montana. We found that 5.5% of 275 pika fleas in this study tested positive for rodent-associated Bartonella DNA but that variation in Bartonella infection prevalence in fleas among sites was not driven by elevation. Specifically, we detected DNA sequences from two loci (gltA and rpoB) that are most similar to Bartonella grahamii isolates collected from rodents in Canada. We did not detect Y. pestis DNA in our survey. Our results demonstrate evidence of rodent-associated flea-borne bacteria in pika fleas. These findings are also consistent with the hypothesis that rodent-associated pathogens could be acquired by pikas. Flea-borne pathogen spillover from rodents to pikas has the potential to exacerbate the more direct effects of climate that have been suggested to drive pika declines.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many students and volunteers who trapped pikas and collected fleas with us. Funding for this project was provided, in part, by a summer Spider Fellowship to HSR from the University of Richmond and a Fulbright Scholar Award to RJB. Undergraduate participation was further funded by the University of Colorado-Boulder Biological Sciences Initiative and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates program. CR was supported by the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research project through NSF Cooperative Agreements DEB-1027341 and DEB-1637686. Additional technical and in-kind support was provided by the University of Colorado-Boulder Mountain Research Station (MRS) and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, USA

    R. Jory Brinkerhoff & Hilary S. Rinsland

  2. School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

    R. Jory Brinkerhoff

  3. Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health, Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Kanagawa, Japan

    Shingo Sato & Soichi Maruyama

  4. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Chris Ray

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  1. R. Jory Brinkerhoff
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  5. Chris Ray
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Correspondence to R. Jory Brinkerhoff.

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Brinkerhoff, R.J., Rinsland, H.S., Sato, S. et al. Vector-Borne Pathogens in Ectoparasites Collected from High-Elevation Pika Populations. EcoHealth 17, 333–344 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-020-01495-8

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