DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF TERRESTRIAL GASTROPODS IN VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK, MN: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE RISK OF MOOSE BECOMING INFECTED WITH PARELAPHOSTRONGYLUS TENUIS Tim Cyr1, Steve K. Windels2, Ron Moen3, and Jerry W. Warmbold2,4 1Integrated BioSciences Graduate Program and Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota 55811; 2Voyageurs National Park, 360 Highway 11 East, International Falls MN, 56649; 3Natural Resources Research Institute, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, Minnesota 55811; 4Present address: University of South Dakota, 414 East Clark St, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069. ABSTRACT: Voyageurs National Park (VNP) has a stable population of about 40–50 moose (Alces alces). Recent declines in moose abundance in adjacent areas in northern Minnesota raise concerns about the long-term viability of moose in VNP. The parasitic nematode Parelaphostrongylus tenuis has been documented in moose in VNP and has been implicated in moose declines in other popula- tions. Terrestrial gastropods are the intermediate hosts for P. tenuis, and describing spatial and temporal differences in their abundance should increase understanding about the risk of P. tenuis infection for VNP moose at the individual and population levels. We used cardboard sheets to estimate species com- position and abundance of terrestrial gastropods in representative vegetation communities in VNP. We collected a total of 6,595 gastropods representing 25 species, 22 terrestrial snails and 3 slugs; 8 are known vectors of P. tenuis, including the slug Deroceras laeve, the most common species found. Gastropods were more abundant in September than July, and in upland forests (maximum = 555 gas- tropods/m2) more than in wetter lowlands (20 gastropods/m2). We used location data from GPS- collared moose in VNP to estimate the relative exposure of moose to gastropods that could be infected with P. tenuis larvae. The boreal hardwood forest and northern spruce-fir forest ecotypes had the high- est use by moose and high abundance of P. tenuis vectors in summer, and may pose the greatest risk for infection. Habitat use and the related risk of ingesting gastropod vectors varied by individual moose. Our method can be extended in moose range to estimate the relative risk of P. tenuis infection. ALCES VOL. 50: 121–132 (2014) Key Words: Alces, meningeal worm, Minnesota, moose, P. tenuis, parasite INTRODUCTION The parasitic nematode Parelaphostron- gylus tenuis can be fatal to moose (Alces alces) (Anderson 1964), and was the prob- able cause of 5% of mortality of radio-col- lared moose in northwestern Minnesota and >20% of incidentally-recovered moose in northern Minnesota (Murray et al. 2006, Wünschmann et al. 2014). The infection causes weakness in the hindquarters, circling, tilting of the head, and increased fearlessness of humans (Anderson and Prestwood 1981). Infections can be lethal and cause mortality indirectly through increased risk of predation or accidents (Lankester et al. 2007, Butler et al. 2009, Wünschmann et al. 2014). Voyageurs National Park (VNP) in northern Minnesota maintains a stable, low-density population of about 40–50 moose, and P. tenuis infection and associated mortality has been documented in and surrounding VNP (Windels 2014). Though the effect on moose at the popula- tion level in VNP is unknown, previous studies suggest it is unlikely to be a major 121 mortality source at the currently low white- tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) density (3–6 deer/km2) (Whitlaw and Lankester 1994b). The normal lifecycle of P. tenuis includes white-tailed deer as the definitive host and terrestrial gastropods as intermedi- ate hosts (Lankester and Anderson 1968). White-tailed deer ingest infected gastropods while foraging and gastropods become infected with P. tenuis by crawling over or near infected deer feces (Lankester 2001). However, only 0.1–4.2% of gastropods col- lected in Minnesota and Ontario were infected with P. tenuis larvae (Lankester and Anderson 1968, Lankester and Peterson 1996). At those infection rates, a white-tailed deer would need to consume up to 1000 gas- tropods to encounter a single larva (Lenarz 2009). However, Lankester and Peterson (1996) reasoned that even at such low rates of infection in gastropods, the high rates of infection measured in white-tailed deer in the region (≤91%, Slomke et al. 1995) is explained by the large volume of vegetation eaten on and near the ground over a few months in the autumn. Infection rates in white-tailed deer derived from winter fecal samples have ranged from 67–90% from the 1970s to the present in VNP (Gogan et al. 1997, VanderWaal et al. 2014). White-tailed deer are the definitive host of P. tenuis but moose, an aberrant host, also ingest infected gastropods during foraging and become infected. Initial signs of P. tenuis infection can appear in moose as early as 20 days after experimental infection (Lankester 2002). Gastropods are necessary for P. tenuis to complete its life cycle. Therefore, knowledge of gastropod populations in VNP may help managers better understand the role of P. tenuis in local moose population dynamics. The distribution and habitat preferences of terrestrial gastropods in VNP have not been studied previously. Extrapolation from studies of gastropod communities in different regions of Minnesota and the surrounding areas is possible (e.g., from northwestern Minnesota [Nekola et al. 1999] or rock out- crops in northeastern Minnesota [Nekola 2002]). Gastropods exhibit habitat preferences that result in variation in presence or density across vegetation communities or other habitat features, and few studies have examined their abundance and diversity at fine spatial scales (Moss and Hermanutz 2010). The risk of P. tenuis infection is presum- ably influenced by vector density and could vary within a population because individual moose demonstrate differential habitat use (Gillingham and Parker 2008). Fine-scale habitat use derived from GPS collars can help clarify the risk of P. tenuis infection to individuals and populations of moose. Com- bined, individual differences in habitat use and variability among habitat types in gas- tropod diversity and abundance may result in differential risk of moose and other cer- vids to P. tenuis infection (VanderWaal et al. 2014). In this study we surveyed terrestrial gas- tropod species on the Kabetogama Peninsula in VNP. Our objectives were to 1) estimate the abundance and diversity of terrestrial gastropods in different ecotypes, with parti- cular focus on known vectors of P. tenuis, 2) document changes in gastropod abun- dance over the growing season, and 3) com- pare the use of cover types by GPS-collared moose to density of P. tenuis vectors to estimate the encounter risk of individual moose. STUDY AREA Voyageurs National Park (48.50° N, 92.88° W) is an 882 km2 protected area com- prised of a mixture of forested land (61%) and large lakes (39%) along the U.S.-Canada border. Moose are primarily restricted to the Kabetogama Peninsula (Windels 2014), a 300 km2 roadless area in the center of VNP, and have remained relatively stable 122 GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP – CYR ET AL. ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 since the 1990s with density ranging from 0.14–0.19 moose/km2 (Windels 2014). White-tailed deer density in winter during the study ranged between 3–6/km2 (Gogan et al. 1997, unpublished data of VNP). Vege- tation is a mix of southern boreal and Laur- entian mixed conifer-hardwood forests comprised primarily of a mosaic of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), balsam fir (Abies balsa- mea), white spruce (Picea alba), white pine (Pinus strobus), red pine (P. resinosa), jack pine (P. banksiana), and black spruce (Picea mariana) (Faber-Landgendoen et al. 2007). Soils range from thin, sandy loams over bed- rock to poorly draining clays at lower eleva- tions (Kurmis et al. 1986). Beaver-created wetlands and associated seral stages are abundant (Johnston and Naiman 1990). Temperatures vary from −40 to 36 °C, with an average annual temperature of 1.4 °C. Mean annual precipitation is 62 cm, with most precipitation falling between May and September (Kallemeyn et al. 2003). METHODS We used the “ecotype”-level vegetation classification derived from the USGS-NPS Vegetation Map (Hop et al. 2001) to select the 10 most common terrestrial ecotypes on the Kabetogama Peninsula to sample for gas- tropods. We excluded 4 of these because they were too wet to sample with our metho- dology: poor conifer swamps, rich hardwood swamps, wet meadows, and shrub bogs. The remaining 6 ecotypes comprised 80% of the non-aquatic vegetation communities (Table 1); 4 were dry uplands (rock barrens with trees, northern spruce-fir forests, boreal hardwood forests, and northern pine forests) and 2 wet lowland ecotypes (northern shrub swamp and rich conifer swamp). We ran- domly selected 5 patches (polygons) within each of the 6 ecotypes within a restricted area to facilitate access to sampling sites (Fig. 1) assuming that these sites were representative of those across the entire Peninsula. At each site we sampled during a single over-night period at approximately 1-month intervals in each of 4 periods: 6– 20 June, 29 July–3 August, 18–25 August, and 9–14 September. We used 0.25 m2 cardboard sampling squares (50 � 50 cm) placed on ground vegetation to collect gastropods (Lankester and Peterson 1996, Hawkins et al. 1998, Nankervis et al. 2000, Maskey 2008). We randomly selected a starting sample point and direction within each polygon such that a 100-m sampling transect would fit entirely within the polygon. We placed 10 corrugated cardboard squares on the 100-m transect and verified that all were in the same ecotype. The cardboard was placed directly on the soil or duff layer after rocks and branches were cleared from the sampling site. The cardboard was saturated with water and cov- ered with a 0.36 m2 sheet of 3-mm thick clear plastic. Sheets were set in the morning and retrieved ∼24 h later. The wetness of each sheet was estimated as the percentage of the bottom that was visibly damp. All slugs Table 1. Area (km2) and % total area covered by each of 6 terrestrial vegetation ecotypes sampled on the Kabetogama Peninsula, Voyageurs National Park (VNP), Minnesota, USA, June- September 2011. Area calculations exclude lakes and ponds. Ecotype classifications are according to the US-National Vegetation Classification System applied to VNP (Hop et al. 2001). Ecotype Area (km2) % Northern Spruce-Fir Forest 66 23 Boreal Hardwood Forest 62 21 Northern Pine Forest 52 18 Treed Rock Barrens 39 13 Northern Shrub Swamp 8 3 Rich Conifer Swamp 5 2 Total 232 80 ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 CYR ET AL. – GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP 123 and snails on the underside of the cardboard were collected and stored in plastic jars with damp paper towels. Subsequent identifica- tion was to the lowest taxonomic level possi- ble using available keys (Burch 1962, Nekola 2007, J. Nekola, Minnesota Depart- ment of Natural Resources, pers. comm.). In 3 cases, we lumped 2 closely related spe- cies together that could not be reliably differ- entiated by morphological characteristics: Zonitoides nitidus and Z. arboreus, Nesovi- trea electrina and N. binneyana, and Euco- nulus alderi and E. fulvous. We identified potential gastropod vectors of P. tenuis based on a literature review (Lankester and Ander- son 1968, Gleich et al. 1977, Upshall et al. 1986, Rowley et al. 1987, Platt 1989, Lanke- ster and Peterson 1996, Whitlaw et al. 1996, Nankervis et al. 2000, Lankester 2001). We considered the 100-m sample trans- ect the sample unit and tested for the effects of ecotype and sample period on abundance of gastropod groups (total gastropods, snails only, slugs only) using factorial ANOVA. We also tested for an interaction between ecotype and sampling period. We used Bon- ferroni corrections when making post-hoc comparisons between main effects (ecotype and sample period) and set statistical signifi- cance at P = 0.05. We obtained GPS locations at 15-min intervals from 11 adult moose (9F:2M) wear- ing GPS collars to measure habitat use dur- ing June-September 2010. Spatial data were displayed using ArcGIS 10.1 with ArcGIS Spatial Analyst (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA 2012), and home ranges were calculated in the Geospatial Modeling Environment Fig. 1. Primary moose range (dashed line) and terrestrial gastropod sampling area (cross- hatched area) in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA, 6 July-14 September 2010. 124 GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP – CYR ET AL. ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 (2012 Spatial Ecology LLC) running via ArcGIS 10.1 and R 3.0.1. We calculated the proportion of locations in each ecotype for individual moose. We calculated a relative measure of P. tenuis transmission risk to moose in different ecotypes by comparing the abundance of gastropods in each ecotype to habitat use in each ecotype. Mean monthly habitat use (i.e., proportion of all locations within an ecotype) varied little from June to September; all differences were <5% between months for any ecotype. We therefore used the mean proportion of use for the entire June-September period to estimate an overall risk of P. tenuis infection by ecotype during summer. We also evaluated variation in relative risk of P. tenuis infection to individual moose. Risk Value was calculated by multi- plying the proportion of each ecotype used by a moose by the mean density of potential P. tenuis gastropod vectors measured in each ecotype. We scaled the Risk Value for each moose to the highest individual Risk Value to compare relative risk of infection among individual moose. Our indices of risk assume that 1) gastropod infection rates (i.e., propor- tion of gastropods infected with P. tenuis lar- vae) did not vary among gastropod species, among habitat types, or over the sampling time, and 2) the likelihood of a moose ingest- ing a potentially infected vector gastropod in a given ecotype is proportional to the density of known vectors of P. tenuis in that ecotype. Our index of risk does not consider morbid- ity or mortality for infected moose, because the severity and duration of the infection can be highly variable (Lankester 2002, 2010). RESULTS We collected 6,595 gastropods represent- ing 9 families and 25 species (3 slug species and 22 snail species; Table 2), and success- fully classified 62% of slugs and 50% of snails. We could not identify 3,116 (47%) of the gastropods because they were damaged beyond recognition during collection and sto- rage, or were juveniles that can be difficult to identify accurately even to the family level (J. Nekola, pers. comm.). The total number of snails/m2 (including unidentified) increased from July to September in all ecotypes com- bined (ANOVA, F3,29 = 8.7, P < 0.001). The treed rock barren cover type had the lowest snail density (7.1/m2) for all sampling periods combined. The northern pine forest and northern spruce-fir forest ecotypes had the most snails for all periods combined, increas- ing from 7.3 and 10.2 snails/m2 in July to 23.7 and 22.8 snails/m2 in September, respectively (Fig. 2). Overall, slug density was relatively con- stant over time within each ecotype, and at lower density than snails. Slug density (including unidentified) was more variable over time than snail density (Fig. 3). Slug density in all 4 sampling periods combined was lowest (1.3/m2) in the rich conifer swamp ecotype and highest in the northern pine (6.2/m2) and northern spruce-fir forests (6.9/m2). Northern shrub swamp (3.3/m2) and rich conifer swamp (1.3/m2) had lower slug densities than the other 4 ecotypes (ANOVA, F5,29 = 20.88, P < 0.001). Cardboard wetness increased as the sur- vey progressed (ANOVA, F3,29 = 165.8, P < 0.001); for example, mean wetness was 47% in Survey 1 and 90% in Survey 4. Within ecotypes, cardboard wetness in the treed rock barren ecotype was lower (51%) than in the other 5 ecotypes (range = 75– 82%; ANOVA, F5,29 = 44.3, P < 0.001). Eight of the collected species are known vectors of P. tenuis and comprised 32% of the sample. The slug Deroceras laeve was the most common vector collected (26% of total captures), was present in every ecotype, and most common in the northern spruce-fir forest ecotype. Two other slug vectors were Pallifera hemphili and a Deroceras specimen that we could not identify to species, but ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 CYR ET AL. – GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP 125 assumed was a P. tenuis vector like its con- gener D. leave. The snails Discus cronkhitei, Zonitoides nitidus+arboreas, Strobilops spp., and Cochlicopa sp., known vectors of P. tenuis, were ∼11% of the sample and found across all surveys and sample sites (Table 2). Risk of P. tenuis infection was highest in northern spruce-fir forests (Fig. 4). The northern spruce-fir ecotype had the highest use by moose (35% of total locations) and also had the second highest estimated den- sity of P. tenuis vectors. Treed rock barrens had the fourth highest use by moose (8%) Table 2. Composition of terrestrial gastropods collected in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA, June-September 2011. Gastropod species were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible; 62% of slugs and 50% of snails were classified. Group Family Species Count % Total Captures P. tenuis Vectors Slug Limacidae Deroceras laeve 906 26.0 Slug Limacidae Deroceras sp. (but not D. leave) 13 0.4 Slug Philomycidae Pallifera hemphili 6 0.2 Snail Endodontidae Discus cronkhitei 55 2.0 Snail Strobilopsidae Strobilops spp. 145 4.0 Snail Valloniidae Cochlicopa sp. 6 0.2 Snail Zonitidae Zonitoides (nitidus+arboreas) 159 4.6 Total 1290 37.4 Non-vectors Snail Endodontidae Helicodiscus parallelus 7 0.2 Snail Endodontidae Punctum californicum 7 0.2 Snail Endodontidae Punctum minutissimum 2 <0.1 Snail Endodontidae Punctum spp. 4 0.1 Snail Oxychilidae Nesovitrea (electrina+binneyana) 105 3.0 Snail Pupillidae Columella simplex 6 0.2 Snail Pupillidae Gastrocopta pentodon 6 0.2 Snail Pupillidae Gastrocopta sp. 11 0.3 Snail Pupillidae Vertigo spp. 319 9.0 Snail Pupillidae Unknown 143 4.0 Snail Succineidae Oxyloma retusa 19 0.5 Snail Valloniidae Cochlicopa lubricella 11 0.3 Snail Valloniidae Zoogenetes harpa 62 2.0 Snail Zonitidae Euconulus (alderi + fulvous) 638 18.0 Snail Zonitidae Guppya sterkii 6 0.2 Snail Zonitidae Striatura milium 29 0.8 Snail Zonitidae Striatura exigua 7 0.2 Snail Zonitidae Striatura ferrea 6 0.2 Snail Zonitidae Vitrina limpida 326 9.0 Snail Zonitidae Unknown 461 13.0 Total 2175 61.4 126 GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP – CYR ET AL. ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 and the third highest P. tenuis vector density, suggesting moderate risk. Boreal hardwood forests were also a moderate risk ecotype based on their relatively high use and low vector density. Rich conifer swamps and northern shrub swamps were low risk Fig. 2. Mean (+SE) number of snails/m2 (including unidentified) measured in each of 6 ecotypes for a single over-night period in each of 4 sampling periods in June- September, 2011 in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA. Sample periods were: Survey 1 = 6–20 June, Survey 2 = 29 July – 3 August, Survey 3 = 18–25 August, Survey 4 = 9–14 September. Fig. 3. Mean (+SE) number of slugs/m2 (including unidentified) measured in each of 6 ecotypes for a single over-night period in each of 4 sampling periods in June- September, 2011 in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA. Sample periods were: Survey 1 = 6–20 June, Survey 2 = 29 July – 3 August, Survey 3 = 18–25 August, Survey 4 = 9–14 September. ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 CYR ET AL. – GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP 127 ecotypes because of their relatively low use (5% and 7%) and low density of P. tenuis vectors (Fig. 4). Moose displayed variability in indi- vidual risk of infection as a result of dif- ferential habitat use. Ten of 11 moose had Relative Risk scores of 0.68–1.0, and Rela- tive Risk differed by ≤32% for the majority of moose. Moose V09 was an exception as it spent little time in gastropod rich habitats and had a much lower risk of infection (0.21) relative to the other moose (Table 3). DISCUSSION Gastropod density, and more specifically density of known vectors of P. tenuis, dif- fered among the ecotypes and sample peri- ods. Similar to previous studies, ecotypes of mixed conifer-deciduous forest types had the highest gastropod densities (Gleich et al. 1977, Kearney and Gilbert 1978, Nankervis et al. 2000). The increasing density of gas- tropods and potential P. tenuis vectors from summer to fall is also consistent with pre- vious studies in northern Minnesota (Lanke- ster and Peterson 1996). D. laeve was the most abundant gastropod found in our study area, and is likely the most important vector of P. tenuis. Most larvae in infected gastro- pods are presumably in the infective stage (i.e., third stage) by early July (Lankester and Peterson 1996) corresponding to our sampling period between mid-June and September. The cardboard sampler method is meant to provide a relative measure of gastropod diversity and abundance, and it is critical that they be as uniform as possible in shape, thickness, and wetness. All were saturated with water at the time of deployment but dried at different rates depending on habitat features (e.g., soil moisture, rockiness, expo- sure) and weather conditions (e.g., dry and windy vs. calm and humid). Cardboard wet- ness varied from 0–100% at collection and this wide variation could skew the estimates of gastropod abundance because they are less likely to be found on dry cardboard (unpublished data, VNP). Variation in cardboard wetness could be minimized by distributing the cardboard after the warmest part of the day and check- ing them before the warmest part of the next day, which would be especially important in the longer and warmer days in July and early August. Past studies indicate lower Boreal Hardwood Forest Northern Pine Forest Northern Shrub Swamp Northern Spruce- Fir Forest Rich Conifer Swamp Treed Rock Barren 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 G as tr o p o d V ec to rs /m 2 o f Tr ap Propor�on of Habitat Use Fig. 4. Relative risk of moose encountering P. tenuis gastropod vectors in 6 ecotypes in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA, July-September 2010. 128 GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP – CYR ET AL. ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 gastropod abundances in early summer (Lan- kester and Anderson 1968, Kearney and Gil- bert 1978, Lankester and Peterson 1996), and although these studies did not report the relative wetness of cardboard sheets, they may be biased low if sheets were drier in early summer. Cardboard samplers may underestimate the total density of gastropods in an area, as the number of gastropods in the soil underneath cardboard samplers has been reported higher than those attached to the cardboard samplers (Hawkins et al. 1998). By combining information about gastro- pod density and relative habitat use, we assessed the relative risk of P. tenuis infec- tion for moose in different habitat types (Fig. 4). We likewise calculated Risk Values for individual moose (Table 3). These meth- ods can also be used to compare risk of infection between different geographic areas or populations. However, we caution that the assumptions associated with our methods need to be considered carefully because sea- sonal variation of infection rates in gastropod hosts is not well understood (Lankester and Anderson 1968, Kearney and Gilbert 1978, Lankester and Peterson 1996). High white- tailed deer density has been correlated with increased infection rates of gastropods (Lan- kester and Peterson 1968) and moose (Whit- law and Lankester 1994a) at larger spatial scales. A recent study found no correlation between white-tailed deer abundance and P. tenuis infection at smaller spatial scales within VNP (VanderWaal et al. 2014), although the range of deer abundance was limited across sites. Risk of P. tenuis infection varies among individual moose because of differences in habitat use within respective home ranges. It will also be influenced by landscape com- position and the availability of different habitats within an area. For example, the western half of the Kabetogama Peninsula has more area covered by the higher risk Table 3. Proportional habitat use and individual risk of moose encountering P. tenuis infected gastropods in the Kabetogama Peninsula, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA, June-September 2010. Risk value is calculated by multiplying the proportion of each ecotype used by a moose by the mean density of P. tenuis gastropod vectors measured in each ecotype. The Relative Index of Risk is the Risk Value scaled to the highest Risk Value found for an individual moose in 2010 (i.e., Moose V05). Proportion Habitat Use Moose # Northern Pine Forest Northern Spruce- Fir Forest Treed Rock Barren Boreal Hardwood Forest Northern Shrub Swamp Rich conifer Swamp Risk Value Relative Index of Risk V05 0.43 0.18 0.02 0.24 0.00 0.03 9.50 1.00 V06 0.42 0.10 0.02 0.17 0.03 0.05 8.96 0.94 V07 0.09 0.34 0.11 0.18 0.07 0.04 8.91 0.94 V14 0.05 0.35 0.14 0.19 0.10 0.04 8.76 0.92 V07 0.04 0.37 0.10 0.18 0.06 0.03 7.80 0.82 V10 0.05 0.33 0.10 0.19 0.06 0.03 7.66 0.81 V18 0.07 0.19 0.26 0.19 0.02 0.00 7.64 0.80 V17 0.13 0.25 0.08 0.18 0.03 0.02 7.44 0.78 V12 0.10 0.32 0.03 0.21 0.06 0.05 7.23 0.76 V08 0.01 0.37 0.00 0.27 0.02 0.01 6.49 0.68 V09 0.00 0.17 0.00 0.13 0.09 0.11 2.04 0.21 ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 CYR ET AL. – GASTROPOD VECTORS OF P. TENUIS IN VNP 129 boreal hardwood and northern spruce-fir ecotypes, and conversely, the eastern half of the park contains more of the drier, low risk treed rock barrens and northern pine eco- types. VanderWaal et al. (2014) found that P. tenuis infection rates in white-tailed deer increased as the proportion of vector-rich habitats such as mixed conifer-hardwood forest increased within a local area. While our methods only considered coarse habitat use in our Risk Index, moose behavior within individual ecotypes is pre- sumably also important. Moose may prefer to bed in certain ecotypes (e.g., in lowland habitats in hot weather) and feed in others (Peek 1997), and even if gastropods are abundant in certain ecotypes, the risk of P. tenuis infection should be less in areas less preferred for foraging. Risk of infection may also be affected by individual prefer- ences for forage choice, previous exposure to P. tenuis, health status, genetics, body mass/longevity (Ezenwa et al. 2006), and other factors not considered here. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank M. Lankester and two anon- ymous reviewers for comments that improved our manuscript. We thank N. Walker, B. Olson, and W. Chen for project assistance. 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ALCES VOL. 50, 2014 http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/perez/Perez/PerezLab/Research/SNAILKEY%20-%20april%2027%20updates.pdf http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/perez/Perez/PerezLab/Research/SNAILKEY%20-%20april%2027%20updates.pdf http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/perez/Perez/PerezLab/Research/SNAILKEY%20-%20april%2027%20updates.pdf http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/perez/Perez/PerezLab/Research/SNAILKEY%20-%20april%2027%20updates.pdf DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF TERRESTRIAL GASTROPODS IN VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK, MN: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE RISK OF MOOSE BECOMING INFECTED WITH PARELAPHOSTRONGYLUS TENUIS INTRODUCTION STUDY AREA METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS REFERENCES