Sand Dunes and Lyme Disease

Entry, Experiences
Jennifer Sidge, Michigan State

Manitou Islands, Michigan

Everyone loves watching the sunrise, but when you watch it ascend over Lake Michigan sand dunes, you just know it is going to be a wonderful day.  After racing up 117 steps to reach the top of a historic lighthouse that overlooks the Manitou Passage and South Manitou Island, your breath is taken away and you know it is not just from the climb up!  While enjoying a summer evening swim in South Manitou’s bay with the stars and shimmer from the nearby lighthouse reflecting off of the tranquil water, you know that the individual who told you, “If you enjoy what you do every day, then you will never have to work a day in your life,” is absolutely correct.   

 

I am a third year veterinary student at Michigan State’s College of Veterinary Medicine currently taking a year off from the veterinary curriculum in order to work on an additional graduate degree with the NIH Predoctoral T32 Training Program.  For my Master’s, I am focusing on Lyme disease ecology in Michigan-specifically along the west coast.  

Figure 1. Captured birds were searched for the presence of ticks.

A very interesting question is presented by two of our Lake Michigan islands, which illustrates the importance of deer for the Lyme disease cycle.  Deer play a critical role within this system, as they help to complete the lifecycle of the tick by serving as a host for the adult stage.  North Manitou Island is the home to a small population of white-tailed deer unlike South Manitou Island, which is 5km from North, but does not have any deer.  North and South Manitou Islands are part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and this three way collaborative study involving Michigan State University, Michigan Department of Community Health, and National Park Service was the first time that Lyme disease risk has been assessed on the islands. Field days out on the islands, typically are all-day events.  We mist-net for birds, which allows us to search migratory and resident birds for the presence of ticks (Figure 1).

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Entry, Creative Corner
Eric Yeager, Cornell Univeristy  

Like a gathering of power, 

it rose in crescendo, faster and louder, 

drumming, matched by my heart.

 

In the stands, shouted numbers 

and urging compete for attention 

like the men on their backs with switches in hand.

 

My eyes close and I see them, 

whipped only by high grasses, urged only by wind,

heads and tails held high, grace greater than any "God’s". 

Entry, Creative Corner
Marie Severyn, Ohio State
 

Sucking my ThumbEnd of the AlleyOrange Sparkle

Peter the Conure

Entry, Creative Corner
Annie Strong, Illinois

Charcoal pencil on paper, 24x18

Stiles in the Woods

Entry, Creative Corner
Annie Strong, Illinois

 Acrylic on paper, 9x12