Based on current statistics conducted by the CDC, annual incidences of Lyme disease have increased in Massachusetts since 2012 (CDC, 2015). This project used tick information from the UMass Amherst database to determine surrogates of biodiversity that best explain Lyme disease incidences in the state. Previous studies support the dilution effect, which hypothesizes that a loss of biodiversity can increase infectious disease prevalence. To test the dilution effect against indicators of biodiversity, we ran both correlation and Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) analyses. Our results demonstrated that the number of people influenced the percent of infected ticks and the dilution effect hypothesis was refuted.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Souza, Catherine
• Chiaramonte, Alessandra

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-031317-125458

Advisor

• Bakermans, Marja

Year

• 2016

Date created

• 2016-03-13

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biology & Biotechnology

Rights statement

• In Copyright