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Efficacy Of Avian Radar Systems For Tracking Birds On The Airfield Of A Large International Airport, Adam C. Phillips, Siddhartha Majumdar, Brian E. Washburn, David Mayer, Ryan M. Swearingin, Edwin E. Herricks, Travis L. Guerrant, Scott F. Beckerman, Craig K. Pullins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Avian radar technologies have the potential to serve an important role in the quantification of bird movements and determining patterns of bird use in areas where human–wildlife conflicts might occur (e.g., airports, wind-energy facilities). However, capabilities and limitations of these technologies are relatively unknown and ground-truthing studies are needed to help wildlife managers understand the biological meaning of radar information. We evaluated the efficacy of 3 X-band marine radar sensors for tracking birds and flocks of birds observed on the airfield at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, USA, during March 2011– November 2012.We used specific information regarding field observations of birds …

Mitochondrial Genome Of An Allegheny Woodrat (Neotoma Magister), Mandy Schofield, Joseph Duchamp, Jeffery L. Larkin, Timothy J. Smyser, Jacqueline M. Doyle

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister) is endemic to the eastern United States. Population numbers have decreased rapidly over the last four decades due to habitat fragmentation, disease-related mortality, genetic isolation and inbreeding depression; however, effective management is hampered by limited genetic resources. To begin addressing this need, we sequenced and assembled the entire Allegheny woodrat mitochondrial genome. The genome assembly is 16,310 base pairs in length, with an overall base composition of 34% adenine, 27% thymine, 26% cytosine and 13% guanine. This resource will facilitate our understanding of woodrat population genetics and behavioral ecology.

Development Of On-Shore Behavior Among Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) In The Southern Beaufort Sea: Inherited Or Learned?, Kate M. Lillie, Eric M. Gese, Todd C. Atwood, Sarah A. Sonsthagen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing rapid and substantial changes to their environment due to global climate change. Polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) have historically spent most of the year on the sea ice. However, recent reports from Alaska indicate that the proportion of the SB subpopulation observed on-shore during late summer and early fall has increased. Our objective was to investigate whether this on-shore behavior has developed through genetic inheritance, asocial learning, or through social learning. From 2010 to 2013, genetic data were collected from SB polar bears in the fall via hair snags …

Evaluation Of Movement Behaviors To Inform Toxic Baiting Strategies For Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa), Michael Lavelle, Nathan P. Snow, Joseph M. Halseth, Eric H. Vannatta, Heather N. Sanders, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Invasive wild pigs damage agriculture, property, and natural ecosystems. To curtail damage, an effective and humane toxic bait containing microencapsulated sodium nitrite is under development. Strategies for delivering the toxic bait are needed to establish adequate spacing of bait sites, and for simultaneously accustoming wild pigs to the novel bait and wild pig-specific bait stations designed to exclude non-target species.

RESULTS: We monitored movements of 32 Global Positioning System (GPS)-collared wild pigs relative to 41 bait sites containing placebo bait. Among the bait sites,we compared three experimental baiting strategies (and a control) to evaluate which strategy led to the …

Assessing Bird Avoidance Of High-Contrast Lights Using A Choice Test Approach: Implications For Reducing Human-Induced Avian Mortality, Benjamin Goller, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault, Patrice E. Baumhardt, Esteban Fernandez-Juricic

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background: Avian collisions with man-made objects and vehicles (e.g., buildings, cars, airplanes, power lines) have increased recently. Lights have been proposed to alert birds and minimize the chances of collisions, but it is challenging to choose lights that are tuned to the avian eye and can also lead to avoidance given the differences between human and avian vision. We propose a choice test to address this problem by first identifying wavelengths of light that would over-stimulate the retina using species-specific perceptual models and by then assessing the avoidance/attraction responses of brown-headed cowbirds to these lights during daytime using a behavioral …

Diverse Examples From Managing Invasive Vertebrate Species On Inhabited Islands Of The United States, Richard M. Engeman, Michael L. Avery, Aaron B. Shiels, Are R. Berentsen, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Robert T. Sugihara, Anthony G. Duffiney, Craig S. Clark, John D. Eisemann

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A wide array of sizes, ecosystems, cultures, and invasive wildlife are represented among inhabited islands. Here, six cases from the United States of America (US) are selected to illustrate the high diversity of invasive animal management issues and objectives. We outline the background, define the problems and management objectives. We identify the management approaches and discuss the results and influences as they specifically relate to inhabited islands. The examples are: (1) Gambian giant pouched rats on Grassy Key, Florida; (2) coqui frogs on Kaua’i, Hawai’i; (3) feral swine on Cayo Costa Island, Florida; (4) rodents and monitor lizards on Cocos …

How Behavior Of Nontarget Species Affects Perceived Accuracy Of Scat Detection Dog Surveys, Karen E. Dematteo, Linsey W. Blake, Julie K. Young, Barbara Davenport

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Detection dogs, specially trained domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), have become a valuable, noninvasive, conservation tool because they remove the dependence of attracting species to a particular location. Further, detection dogs locate samples independent of appearance, composition, or visibility allowing researchers to collect large sets of unbiased samples that can be used in complex ecological queries. One question not fully addressed is why samples from nontarget species are inadvertently collected during detection dog surveys. While a common explanation has been incomplete handler or dog training, our study aimed to explore alternative explanations. Our trials demonstrate that a scat’s genetic …

State Management Of Human– Wildlife Conflicts, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Daniel Hirchert, Scott Hygnstrom

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Many positive experiences are associated with wildlife, from passively watching animals in our backyards to actively hunting in publicly owned forests. Unfortunately, wildlife can be a double- edged sword. Human– wildlife conflicts are pervasive in society, and nearly all segments—wealthy and in need, urban and rural, east and west—can experience problems with wildlife. Agricultural producers lose an estimated $45 billion each year as a result of crop and livestock damage caused by big game, predators, waterfowl, and other wildlife species (Conover 2002). Row crops, forages, rangeland, fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, turf, and livestock are susceptible to damage by wildlife at various …

Behavioral Differences Following Ingestion Of Large Meals And Consequences For Management Of A Harmful Invasive Snake: A Field Experiment, Shane R. Siers, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Robert N. Reed

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Many snakes are uniquely adapted to ingest large prey at infrequent intervals. Digestion of large prey is metabolically and aerobically costly, and large prey boluses can impair snake locomotion, increasing vulnerability to predation. Cessation of foraging and use of refugia with microclimates facilitating digestion are expected to be strategies employed by free-ranging snakes to cope with the demands of digestion while minimizing risk of predation. However, empirical observations of such submergent behavior from field experiments are limited. The brown treesnake (Serpentes: Colubridae: Boiga irregularis) is a nocturnal, arboreal, colubrid snake that was accidentally introduced to the island of Guam, …

Cost–Benefit Analysis Of Controlling Rabies: Placing Economics At The Heart Of Rabies Control To Focus Political Will, Stephanie A. Shwiff, J. L. Elser, K. H. Ernst, S. S. Shwiff, A. M. Anderson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rabies is an economically important zoonosis. This paper describes the extent of the economic impacts of the disease and some of the types of economic analyses used to understand those impacts, as well as the trade-offs between efforts to manage rabies and efforts to eliminate it. In many cases, the elimination of rabies proves more cost-effective over time than the continual administration of postexposure prophylaxis, animal testing and animal vaccination. Economic analyses are used to inform and drive policy decisions and focus political will, placing economics at the heart of rabies control.

Quantification Of Avian Hazards To Military Aircraft And Implications For Wildlife Management, Morgan Pfeiffer, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Collisions between birds and military aircraft are common and can have catastrophic effects. Knowledge of relative wildlife hazards to aircraft (the likelihood of aircraft damage when a species is struck) is needed before estimating wildlife strike risk (combined frequency and severity component) at military airfields. Despite annual reviews of wildlife strike trends with civil aviation since the 1990s, little is known about wildlife strike trends for military aircraft. We hypothesized that species relative hazard scores would correlate positively with aircraft type and avian body mass. Only strike records identified to species that occurred within the U.S. (n = 36,979) …

Estimating Densities For Sympatric Kit Foxes (Vulpes Macrotis) And Coyotes (Canis Latrans) Using Noninvasive Genetic Sampling, R. C. Lonsinger, P. M. Lukacs, E. M. Gese, R. N. Knight, L. P. Waits

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Kit fox (Vulpes macrotis Merriam, 1888) populations in the Great Basin Desert have declined and are of increasing concern for managers. Increasing coyote (Canis latrans Say, 1823) abundance and subsequent intraguild interactions may be one cause for this decline. Concurrent monitoring of carnivores is challenging and therefore rarely conducted. One possible solution for monitoring elusive carnivores is using noninvasive genetic sampling. We used noninvasive genetic sampling to collect fecal DNA from kit foxes and coyotes and estimate their densities from 2013–2014 in Utah, USA. We identified individuals based on microsatellite genotypes and estimated density with multisession spatially explicit …

Roads Do Not Increase Carrion Use By A Vertebrate Scavenging Community, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, James C. Beasley, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Jerrold L. Belant

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife-vehicle collisions introduce a considerable amount of carrion into the environment, but scavenger use of this resource has not been extensively investigated. Scavengers may use roads for reliable foraging opportunities, but might also use roads for other purposes and encounter carrion opportunistically. We examined scavenging of carrion along linear features by placing 52 rabbit carcasses in each of three treatments in forested habitat during winter (Dec 2016-Mar 2017) in South Carolina, USA: roads, power line clearings (linear feature with fewer carcasses than roads due to lack of road kill), and forest interior. We used motion-activated cameras to compare arrival times …

Evaluating An Alleged Mimic Of The Monarch Butterfly: Neophasia (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) Butterflies Are Palatable To Avian Predators, Dale A. Halbritter, Johnalyn M. Gordon, Kandy L. Keacher, Michael L. Avery, Jaret C. Daniels

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Some taxa have adopted the strategy of mimicry to protect themselves from predation. Butterflies are some of the best representatives used to study mimicry, with the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) a well-known model. We are the first to empirically investigate a proposed mimic of the monarch butterfly: Neophasia terlooii, the Mexican pine white butterfly (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). We used captive birds to assess the palatability of N. terlooii and its sister species, N. menapia, to determine the mimicry category that would best fit this system. The birds readily consumed both species of Neophasia and a palatable control species but …

Cross-Fostering As A Conservation Tool To Augment Endangered Carnivore Populations, Eric M. Gese, William T. Waddell, Patricia A. Terletzky, Chris F. Lucash, Scott R. Mclellan, Susan K. Behrns

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Cross-fostering offspring with nonbiological parents could prove useful to augment populations of endangered carnivores. We used cross-fostering to augment captive-born and wild-born litters for the endangered red wolf (Canis rufus). Between 1987 and 2016, 23 cross-fostering events occurred involving captive-born pups fostered into captive litters (n = 8 events) and captive-born pups fostered into wild recipient litters (n = 15 events). Percentage of pups surviving 3 and 12 months was 91.7% for captive-born pups fostered into captive recipient litters. For pups fostered into wild litters, percentage of pups surviving 5 months was > 94% among fostered pups …

Absence Of Native Flower Visitors For The Endangered Hawaiian Mint Stenogyne Angustifolia: Impending Ecological Extinction?, Clare E. Aslan, Christina T. Liang, Aaron B. Shiels, William Haines

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

If an organism becomes rare enough that it no longer participates in certain interspecific interactions, it can be said to have become ecologically extinct, even though it is still present. This form of extinction is much less recognized than global extinctions, although it may have ramifications for ecological community function. Here, we describe a case of possible or pending ecological extinction of an endemic Hawaiian plant. We performed over 120 h of systematic flower visitation observations of the endangered Hawaiian mint, Stenogyne angustifolia, in its wild habitat. The robust size and open shape of S. angustifolia flowers, along with their …

Tissue Tropisms Opt For Transmissible Reassortants During Avian And Swine Influenza A Virus Co-Infection In Swine, Xiaojian Zhang, Hailiang Sun, Fred L. Cunningham, Lei Li, Katie Hanson-Dorr, Matthew W. Hopken, Jim Cooley, Li-Ping Long, John A. Baroch, Tao Li, Brandon S. Schmit, Xiaoxu Lin, Alicia K. Olivier, Richard G. Jarman, Thomas J. Deliberto, Xiu-Feng Wan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Genetic reassortment between influenza A viruses (IAVs) facilitate emergence of pandemic strains, and swine are proposed as a “mixing vessel” for generating reassortants of avian and mammalian IAVs that could be of risk to mammals, including humans. However, how a transmissible reassortant emerges in swine are not well understood. Genomic analyses of 571 isolates recovered from nasal wash samples and respiratory tract tissues of a group of co-housed pigs (influenza-seronegative, avian H1N1 IAV–infected, and swine H3N2 IAV– infected pigs) identified 30 distinct genotypes of reassortants. Viruses recovered from lower respiratory tract tissues had the largest genomic diversity, and those recovered …

Persistent Spillback Of Bovine Tuberculosis From White-Tailed Deer To Cattle In Michigan, Usa: Status, Strategies, And Needs, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Michael J. Lavelle, Henry Campa Iii

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are believed to be a self-sustaining reservoir for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in northeastern Lower Michigan, USA. Although a comprehensive control program is in place and on-farm mitigation strategies to curtail bTB transmission between cattle and deer have been implemented for over a decade, cattle and deer continue to become infected with the disease. Thus, renewed motivation to eradicate bTB is needed if that is truly the goal. Recurrent detection of bTB in cattle in the region is of mounting concern for state and federal agricultural agencies, producers, and wildlife managers. Current on-farm mitigation …

Enclosure Utilization And Enrichment Structure Preferences Of Captive Coyotes, Jeffrey T. Schultz, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Environmental enrichment improves well-being of captive animals using a variety of tools, including adding complexity to the physical environment. Designing enrichment structures requires an understanding of behavioral and biological responses to enrichment efforts. Captive coyotes (Canis latrans) utilize shelter structures to hide, rest, and display vigilant behavior. Because these simple structures are regularly used, new and more complex enrichment structures could enhance enclosure enrichment. This study examined the time captive coyotes spent at discrete, complex enclosure features to determine: (1) how coyotes utilize enclosure space and shelter structures; and (2) if coyotes have a preferred enrichment structure design. …

Parental Habituation To Human Disturbance Over Time Reduces Fear Of Humans In Coyote Offspring, Christopher J. Schell, Julie K. Young, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf, Rachel M. Santymire, Jill M. Mateo

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A fundamental tenet of maternal effects assumes that maternal variance over time should have discordant consequences for offspring traits across litters. Yet, seldom are parents observed across multiple reproductive bouts, with few studies considering anthropogenic disturbances as an ecological driver of maternal effects. We observed captive coyote (Canis latrans) pairs over two successive litters to determine whether among‐litter differences in behavior (i.e., risk‐taking) and hormones (i.e., cortisol and testosterone) corresponded with parental plasticity in habituation. Thus, we explicitly test the hypothesis that accumulating experiences of anthropogenic disturbance reduces parental fear across reproductive bouts, which should have disparate phenotypic …

American Black Bear Den-Site Selection And Characteristics In An Urban Environment, Toryn L. J. Schafer, Stewart W. Breck, Sharon Baruch-Mordo, David L. Lewis, Kenneth R. Wilson, Julie S. Mao, Thomas L. Day

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Selection of den sites is a crucial aspect of American black bear (Ursus americanus) life history. High-quality dens provide thermal insulation, protection from disturbance, suitable environment for parturition and cub development, and proximity to available forage upon emergence. Black bears are increasingly coexisting with people in human-dominated landscapes; however, little is known about whether urban environments influence characteristics of dens and den site selection. Our objective was to determine the effect of housing density (a proxy for human activity and availability of anthropogenic resources) on selection of den sites in years of good and poor natural forage.We additionally …

Viral Shedding Of Clade 2.3.4.4 H5 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Viruses By American Robins, J. Jeffrey Root, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Nicole L. Marlenee, Richard A. Bowen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

American robins (Turdus migratorius) are commonly associated with farmsteads in the United States and have shown previous evidence of exposure to an H5 avian influenza A virus (IAV) near a poultry production facility affected by a highly pathogenic (HP) H5 virus in Iowa, USA during 2015. We experimentally infected American robins with three clade 2.3.4.4 HP H5 viruses (H5N2 and H5N8). A total of 22/24 American robins shed virus, and all three strains were represented. The highest virus titres shed were 10^4.3, 10^4.3 and 10^4.8 PFU/ml, associated respectively with viruses isolated from poultry, a …

Post-Release Activity And Habitat Selection Of Rehabilitated Black Bears, Patrick J. Myers, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Despite the long history of wildlife rehabilitation and the abundance of empirical knowledge of the behavior and resource selection of wildlife species, rarely does research bridge these disciplines. Such investigations could be of value to wildlife managers and rehabilitators by revealing the suitability of the habitat at selected release sites, the wild activities, behavior, and fitness of the captive-reared individuals, and ultimately the efficacy of the rehabilitation process. Rehabilitated carnivores warrant specific attention, given that they are wide-ranging and may behave in ways that threaten human safety or interests. We investigated the behavior of orphan, rehabilitated black bear cubs ( …

Social Conformity Affects Experimental Measurement Of Boldness In Male But Not Female Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta Monachus), Kaan Kerman, Kathryn E. Sieving, Colette St. Mary, Michael L. Avery

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The standard approach for characterizing boldness rarely considers the influence of social environment on the expression of boldness in group-living animals. We studied a wild-caught, captive population of monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) to investigate the impact of conspecific presence on boldness — a personality trait in monk parakeets — in a controlled environment. We quantified seven boldness metrics across three types of behavioural assay: novel object, emergence, and predator exposure tests in the presence of a companion pair of flock mates. Because of the high degree of sociality in this species, we hypothesized that the presence of companion …

Accounting For Observation Processes Across Multiple Levels Of Uncertainty Improves Inference Of Species Distributions And Guides Adaptive Sampling Of Environmental Dna, Amy J. Davis, Kelly E. Williams, Nathan P. Snow, Kim M. Pepin, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Understanding factors that influence observation processes is critical for accurate assessment of underlying ecological processes. When indirect methods of detection, such as environmental DNA, are used to determine species presence, additional levels of uncertainty from observation processes need to be accounted for. We conducted a field trial to evaluate observation processes of a terrestrial invasive species (wild pigs‐ Sus scrofa) from DNA in water bodies. We used a multi‐scale occupancy analysis to estimate different levels of observation processes (detection, p): the probability DNA is available per sample (θ), the probability of capturing DNA per extraction ( …

The National Wildlife Strike Database: A Scientific Foundation To Enhance Aviation Safety, Richard A. Dolbeer, Michael J. Begier, John R. Weller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database (NWSD) documents reports of civil aircraft collisions with wildlife in USA. The NWSD has been managed by the Wildlife Services Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture through an interagency agreement since its inception. Although the NWSD includes about 170,000 reports of civil aircraft collisions with wildlife (97% birds) from 1990-2015 (14,000 in 2015), the overriding focus has been the quality control of data entered for over 90 variables ranging from species and numbers of wildlife struck, location and time of day, phase and height of flight, aircraft type, components …

To Live And Fly In La: Using Bird Strike And Management Program Information To Improve Safety At Airports In The Los Angeles Basin, Todd J. Pitlik, Elizabeth Hermann, Eric Peralta, Brian E. Washburn

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife-aircraft collisions (wildlife strikes) pose a serious safety risk to aircraft. Wildlife strikes can be evaluated at different levels, include efforts to examine these problems at the national, regional, or state level, or for an individual airport. Similarly, wildlife strikes involving individual wildlife species or guilds can be examined at varying scales. Although wildlife strike analyses at the national, regional, or species/guild level are valuable, airport-specific analyses are essential for the effective implementation and evaluation of integrated wildlife damage management programs as these actions are conducted at the airport level. The species that present hazards to safe aircraft operations varies …

Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project: 2017 Update, Margaret Pepper, Kevin Sullivan, Robert Colona, Jonathan Mcknight

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Nutria, a semi-aquatic, South American rodent, was introduced to Maryland during the early 1940s. Originally brought to the area for fur farms, the market never established and animals were released or escaped. Nutria thrived, destroying coastal wetlands which resulted in negative environmental and economic impacts to the Chesapeake Bay region. To preserve and protect valuable wetland resources, the Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project (CBNEP) was established in 2002 through a partnership between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and many state agencies and non-governmental organizations. Since …

Anticoagulant Rodenticide Residues In Game Animals In California, Stella C. Mcmillin, Robert H. Poppenga, Shannon C. Chandler, Deana L. Clifford

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are used to control rodents around homes, buildings, and in agriculture. They have been found widely in predatory and scavenging wildlife as a result of secondary exposure and less commonly in herbivores and omnivores from primary exposure. While predators and scavengers have been monitored for AR exposure, very little information is available about AR residues in edible muscle tissue of game animals. Game animals may be exposed to ARs through direct consumption of bait, ingestion of contaminated food or vegetation, or consumption of contaminated prey items. Carcasses of three species of game animals (black bear, wild pigs, …

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Example Chapter Section, Manuscript Of The Aspidogastrea By Klaus Rohde, Klaus Rohde

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

This is an example chapter section for Concepts in Animal Parasitology. It is a manuscript of the section titled The Aspidogastrea, written by by Klaus Rohde. This is an example of a section written without using the optional template for Parts 2-5 of the textbook. The associated images are included in a supplemental file.