Type of Submission
Poster
Keywords
Raccoon, raccoon roundworm, parasites, prevalence, diet
Abstract
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the definitive host for raccoon roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis). Raccoon roundworm is responsible for a dangerous neurological disease known as larva migrans encephalopathy. Raccoons are omnivorous animals and rely on various food items. Dietary analyses help determine how a raccoon changes its diet in response to environmental features. Raccoons eat whatever food resource is most convenient and abundant. Parasite infections can potentially affect host eating habits in order to keep the host alive and active longer. In this study, we analyzed the diets of necropsied raccoons from ten townships of Clark and Greene Counties by examining their stomach contents. We categorized stomach contents by separating out plant material, vertebrate tissue, and invertebrate tissue. We measured the total stomach mass and the mass of plant material alone in order to compare and obtain a percentage of plant material in the raccoons’ diet. We conducted two chi-squared tests for equality of distributions. We tested the null hypotheses that raccoons from townships with high prevalence (>60%) have the same vertebrate tissue and plant tissue prevalence as raccoons from townships with low roundworm prevalence (
Campus Venue
Stevens Student Center
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-16-2014 11:00 AM
End Date
4-16-2014 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Baylisascaris procyonis Impacts Raccoon (Procyon lotor) Diets
Cedarville, OH
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the definitive host for raccoon roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis). Raccoon roundworm is responsible for a dangerous neurological disease known as larva migrans encephalopathy. Raccoons are omnivorous animals and rely on various food items. Dietary analyses help determine how a raccoon changes its diet in response to environmental features. Raccoons eat whatever food resource is most convenient and abundant. Parasite infections can potentially affect host eating habits in order to keep the host alive and active longer. In this study, we analyzed the diets of necropsied raccoons from ten townships of Clark and Greene Counties by examining their stomach contents. We categorized stomach contents by separating out plant material, vertebrate tissue, and invertebrate tissue. We measured the total stomach mass and the mass of plant material alone in order to compare and obtain a percentage of plant material in the raccoons’ diet. We conducted two chi-squared tests for equality of distributions. We tested the null hypotheses that raccoons from townships with high prevalence (>60%) have the same vertebrate tissue and plant tissue prevalence as raccoons from townships with low roundworm prevalence (
