{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T04:25:46Z","timestamp":1775103946254,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,13]],"date-time":"2022-06-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655078400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Charles Blake Fund, Nuttall Ornithological Club"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Habitat fragmentation and heterogeneity transform otherwise contiguous tracks of forest into smaller patches in the northeastern U.S. and likely impact abundances, movement patterns, and disease transmission pathways for small-mammal communities at multiple scales. We sought to determine the structure of a small-mammal community in terms of mammal abundance and infection prevalence of <jats:italic>Borrelia burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> sensu stricto (s.s.), <jats:italic>Anaplasma phagocytophilum<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>Babesia microti<\/jats:italic> within a fragmented landscape in Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. We studied communities at multiple spatial scales, including vegetation, edge type, and landscape (including 200-m, 500-m, and 1000-m radii) scales. A total of 16 study sites were chosen to represent four edge types: interior forest, pasture edge, natural edge, and residential edge. At each site, we trapped small mammals and conducted vegetation surveys and GIS analysis. Upon capture, a tissue sample was collected to analyze for presence of pathogens. Northern short-tailed shrew (<jats:italic>Blarina brevicauda<\/jats:italic>) abundance did not differ based on edge type, whereas abundance of the white-footed mouse (<jats:italic>Peromyscus leucopus<\/jats:italic>) was greatest at pasture edges, although the relationship was relatively weak. White-footed mouse abundance was negatively associated with amount of forested area within a 500-m radius, whereas northern short-tailed shrew abundance demonstrated a positive relationship with fragmentation indices at the 200-m radius. White-footed mice captured at interior-forest habitat were more likely be infected with <jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> (s.s.) than individuals from edge habitat. Greater prevalence of <jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> infection of white-footed mice in forest interiors compared to edge habitats counters previous studies. Reasons for this and implications are discussed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0269768","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,13]],"date-time":"2022-06-13T17:25:52Z","timestamp":1655141152000},"page":"e0269768","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Multi-scale analysis of habitat fragmentation on small-mammal abundance and tick-borne pathogen infection prevalence in Essex County, MA"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4508-7926","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Samuel D.","family":"Mason","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samuel C. 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