Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-81). / vii, 86 leaves, bound ill. (some col.) 29 cm

The influence of energy restriction on the transmission dynamics of a direct life cycle nematode, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, within free-running arena Systems has to date remained unexplored. Indoor populations of CD-1 outbred mice were established for 12 weeks in arenas and fed either energy-suffi ci ent (ES) or energy-restricted (ER-20% réduction in metabolizable energy) diets. Infection was introduced to ail arenas following 3 weeks of diet treatment. Contrary to previous findings, the mice fed the ER diets compensated for the deficiency by increasing food consumption and thus, while early in the experiment energy restriction was evident, dietary effects were no longer observed after 6 weeks. Worm burdens, measured at 4 time points over the course of the experiment, were higher in mice fed the ES diets. Although mice fed the ER diets had greater contact with infected areas, the mice fed the ES diets increased the duration of behaviours that heighten ingestion of the parasite - self and allogrooming. Dietary effects on behaviour were observed only after infection was introduced and were more pronounced in the durations of individual bouts rather than in overall durations or time budgets. Nesting bouts were prolonged in mice in the ER arenas perhaps as a means of thermoregulation to counteract the combined effects of infection and energy restriction. The duration of exploratory bouts was also higher in the ER mice possibly due to an inability to receive or process information in their environment. Social interactions, predominantly involving sniffing, increased after infection was introduced, supporting the rôle of odour in communicating infection status in same-sex conspecifics. Together these results provide a more comprehensive ethogram of mice in a semi-natural setting and highlight those behaviours where adaptive plasticity allows response to dietary and infection stresses.

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