Collaborative research: RUI: multilevel effects of urbanization on wildlife health: an integrative approach

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology awarded a $247,406 Project Grant to the University of Portland to conduct collaborative research on the multilevel effects of urbanization on wildlife health. The project, titled "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RUI: MULTILEVEL EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION ON WILDLIFE HEALTH: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH", will study the impact of urban habitats on the health of the western deer mouse, a species found in both urban and rural areas. The researchers will collect data on habitat characteristics and mouse health metrics, such as immune function and stress, along an urbanization gradient in and around Spokane, Washington. The goal is to identify the key factors that impact wildlife health in urban environments, which has direct relevance to human health given the potential for wildlife-borne diseases. The project will also provide important interdisciplinary training for undergraduate students at three institutions and develop in-class research activities to give hundreds of additional students research experience. This award falls under the NSF's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), which aims to promote progress in the biological sciences and enhance the nation's scientific enterprise.

Abstract

Urban areas are growing worldwide, causing significant loss of habitat for wildlife. Exactly how such changes in habitat lead to declines in wildlife populations is not fully understood. The associated mechanisms are hard to study because the species most negatively impacted simply DON?t occur in urban habitats. This project focuses on a species, the western deer mouse, that is found in both urban and rural habitats. Researchers will collect data on habitat, such as food availability and noise, and on mouse health, such as immune function and stress, along a gradient from urban woodlots to nearly pristine forests in and around spokane, washington. Data will be used to identify which factors most impact wildlife health in urban areas. Because wildlife can carry diseases that are passed to humans, information about the health of urban species has direct relevance to human health. Many undergraduate students from three institutions will be involved in the study, thereby gaining important interdisciplinary training. Additionally, two in-class research activities based on this project will be developed and implemented in courses at the three institutions, giving hundreds of additional students experience in research. Peromyscus sonoriensis was selected as a model organism because IT inhabits a wide diversity of environments across an urbanization gradient, thus facilitating natural comparative analyses of direct and indirect impacts of urbanization. Most other studies focus on only one or a few variables of urbanization and the models that result are simplistic, as many variables are involved and frequently CO-vary. This study uses a suite of urbanization variables that are predicted to affect, and be indicators of, an animal?s health. Correspondingly, ?health? Will be assessed with a variety of metrics of stress (acute and chronic), body condition (e.g., parasite infection, reproductive status), immune function (e.g., quantification of neutrophils, b cells, helper t cells), and GUT microbiome analysis. Using research sites located along an urbanization gradient, researchers will: 1) quantify urbanization and its effects on habitat characteristics, 2) assess multiple metrics of deer mouse health, and 3) integrate responses between and within habitats and organisms to investigate multi-dimensional effects of urbanization on deer mouse health. The mechanism-based findings can be used in efforts to conserve or remediate habitats in the face of encroaching urbanization, enabling a proactive rather than reactive approach to conservation and restoration. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.