Digital Commons Network^™

Potential Use Of Perennial Sunflower To Reduce Blackbird Damage To Sunflower, George M. Linz, Brent Hulke, Michael Kantar, Jeffrey Homan, Robert Stupar, Donald Wyse

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots (WCSP) have shown potential to reduce blackbird (Icteridae) damage in commercial sunflower. Also known as lure, decoy, or trap crops, WCSP are strategically placed food plots that provide an easily available and proximate food source that entices blackbirds away from valuable commercial crops. By providing an alternative food source, WCSP reduce direct damage to commercial fields, while also lowering indirect costs that producers incur attempting to prevent blackbird damage. However, cost inefficiencies have deterred widespread use of WCSP. Cost-benefit ratios of using WCSP would be greatly improved if a perennial sunflower were used instead of the …

A Recent Epizootic Of Skunk Rabies And Associated Spillover In Northern Colorado, Usa, Amy Gilbert, Dennis Kohler, Tara Rigg, Justin W. Fischer, Terry Spraker, Karen Fox, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rabies is a fatal viral zoonosis that is transmitted by bite contact with saliva of an infected animal. In the U.S., human deaths are rare, but each year over 5,000 rabid animals are reported and over 90% of cases are from wildlife. Multiple species of carnivores and bats are the primary sylvatic reservoirs in the U.S., and several variants circulate independently among these two taxonomic orders. Rabies prevention efforts led by USDA APHIS Wildlife Services using live recombinant vaccine baiting began in 1995 and currently target raccoons and canids, but the territory of the south-central skunk rabies virus variant has …

Effects Of Vaccination Against Gdf9 And Bmp15 On Fertility And Ovarian Function In The White-Tailed Deer, Douglas C. Eckery, Lowell A. Miller, Gary J. Killian, Anthony J. Denicola

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The physiological mechanisms controlling ovarian follicular growth and ovulation involve a complex exchange of systemic signals and a localized exchange of molecules between the oocyte and surrounding somatic cells. It has been demonstrated that the oocyte itself plays an essential role in regulating these processes by secreting two key regulatory proteins: bone morphogenetic protein-15 (BMP15) and growth and differentiation factor-9 (GDF9). Natural mutations in their expression and vaccination against these growth factors have been shown to cause sterility in sheep. The aim of this 3-year study was to determine the effect of vaccination against GDF9 and BMP15 on fertility in …

Safety And Immunogenicity Of Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait (Onrab) In The First Us Field Trial In Raccoons (Procyon Lotor), Dennis Slate, Richard B. Chipman, Timothy P. Algeo, Samuel A. Mills, Kathleen M. Nelson, Christopher K. Croson, Edward J. Dubovi, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Randall W. Renshaw, Todd Atwood, Shylo Johnson, Charles E. Rupprecht

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In 2011, we conducted a field trial in rural West Virginia, USA to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a live, recombinant human adenovirus (AdRG1.3) rabies virus glycoprotein vaccine (Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait; ONRAB) in wild raccoons (Procyon lotor) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis). We selected ONRAB for evaluation because of its effectiveness in raccoon rabies management in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, and significantly higher antibody prevalence rates in raccoons compared with a recombinant vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) vaccine, Raboral V-RGH, in US–Canada border studies. Raccoon rabies was enzootic and oral rabies vaccination (ORV) had never been …

A Landscape-Based Approach For Delineating Hotspots Of Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions, Nathan P. Snow, David M. Williams, William F. Porter

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Imposing human perceptions about the scales of ecological processes can produce unreliable scientific inferences in wildlife research and possibly misinform mitigation strategies. An example of this disconnect occurs in studies of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs). Subjective procedures are often used to delineate hotspots of WVCs, resulting in hotspots that are not spatially independent. We developed a new approach that identifies independent hotspots using attributes of the landscape to inform delineations instead of subjective measures. First, we generated a candidate set of grouping scenarios using unique combinations of kernel-density estimation parameterization (i.e., bandwidth and isopleth values). Next, we associated the groups of …

An Agent-Based Movement Model To Assess The Impact Of Landscape Fragmentation On Disease Transmission, Jeff A. Tracey, Sarah N. Bevins, Sue Vandewoude, Kevin R. Crooks

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Landscape changes can result in habitat fragmentation and reduced landscape connectivity, limiting the ability of animals to move across space and altering infectious disease dynamics in wildlife. In this study, we develop and implement an agent-based model to assess the impacts of animal movement behavior and landscape structure on disease dynamics. We model a susceptible/infective disease state system applicable to the transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus in bobcats in the urbanized landscape of coastal southern California. Our agent-based model incorporates animal movement behavior, pathogen prevalence, transmission probability, and habitat fragmentation to evaluate how these variables influence disease spread in urbanizing …

Detection Of Volatile Organic Compounds In Brucella Abortus- Seropositive Bison, Alona Bayn, Pauline Nol, Ulrike Tisch, Jack Rhyan, Christine K. Ellis, Hossam Haick

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Brucellosis is of great public health and economic importance worldwide. Detection of brucellosis currently relies on serologic testing of an antibody response to Brucella infection, which suffers from cross-sensitivities to other antibody responses. Here we present a new method for identifying Brucella exposure that is based on profiling volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath. Breath samples from Brucella-seropositive bison and controls were chemically analyzed and demonstrated statistically significant differences in the concentration profiles of five VOCs. A point-of-care device incorporating an array of nanomaterial-based sensors could identify VOC patterns indicative of Brucella exposure with excellent discriminative power, using …

Identifying And Managing Mountain Beaver Damage To Forest Resources, Jimmy D. Taylor Ii, Donivan Sphar, Osu Extension Forester Ahrens

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

This publication describes techniques landowners and land managers can use to mitigate damage caused by mountain beavers.

The mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa) is a medium-sized rodent that is found throughout the Pacific Northwest, specifically the western regions of Oregon, Washington, northern California, and British Columbia. Mountain beavers are seldom seen, because of their subterranean lifestyle, but can cause considerable damage to forest regeneration. They primarily cause damage by clipping seedlings and small saplings, but they also girdle large saplings and trees and undermine the roots of large, mature trees.

Several management strategies are available to control mountain beaver …

Wildlife In Airport Environments: Chapter 10 Managing Turfgrass To Reduce Wildlife Hazards At Airports, Brian E. Washburn, Thomas W. Seamans

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Multiple factors-including safety regulations, economic considerations, location, and attractiveness to wildlife recognized as hazardous to aviation- influence the choice of land cover at airports. The principal land covet at airports within North America has historically been turfgrass, usually coolseason perennial grass species native to Europe. However, recent research has determined that, from a wildlife perspective, not all turf grasses are alike. Some grasses are more palatable to herbivorous hazardous wildlife (e.g., Canada geese [Branta canadensis]) than others, and thus are more likely to increase the potential for wildlife-aircraft collisions when planted near critical airport operating areas. How turfgrasses are managed …

Spillover Benefits Of Wildlife Management To Support Pheasant Populations, Aaron M. Anderson, Karen Gerhardt, Wylie T. Cross, Stephanie A. Shwiff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and other upland game populations in Wyoming, USA, have been declining due to changes in agricultural practices, urban development, and predation. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) have been implicated as one of the main predators of pheasant nests. Management of raccoons to support pheasant populations has the direct benefit of increasing pheasant populations and additional spillover benefits to corn producers in the region may occur. We conducted a field study in southeastern Wyoming from July to October 2009 to estimate the increase in corn yield associated with raccoon trapping. Although the primary purpose of the raccoon trapping was …

Deciphering Serology To Understand The Ecology Of Infectious Diseases In Wildlife, Amy T. Gilbert, A. R. Fooks, D. T. S. Hayman, D. L. Horton, T. Muller, R. Plowright, A. J. Peel, R. Bowen, J. L. Wood, J. Miils, A. A. Cunningham, C. E. Rupprecht

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The ecology of infectious disease in wildlife has become a pivotal theme in animal and public health. Studies of infectious disease ecology rely on robust surveillance of pathogens in reservoir hosts, often based on serology, which is the detection of specific antibodies in the blood and is used to infer infection history. However, serological data can be inaccurate for inference to infection history for a variety of reasons. Two major aspects in any serological test can substantially impact results and interpretation of antibody prevalence data: cross-reactivity and cut-off thresholds used to discriminate positive and negative reactions. Given the ubiquitous use …

Leptospirosis In Fox Squirrels (Sciurus Niger) Of Larimer County, Colorado, Usa, Katherine Dirsmith, Kaci K. Vandalen, Tricia Fry, Brad Charles, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Colleen Duncan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Leptospira interrogans. The organism is typically maintained within a geographic region by colonizing renal tubules of carrier animals and shed into the environment in urine. We assessed whether L. interrogans was present in fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) in Larimer County, Colorado, USA, and whether it is associated with disease. Twenty-two squirrels were trapped from 29 November 2011 to 15 December 2011 for use in an unrelated study. The squirrels were individually housed for 33–65 days and euthanized; no clinical disease was observed. On gross examination, significant renal lesions …

Assessing Wolves And Cougars As Conservation Surrogates, Kyran E. Kunkel, T. C. Atwood, T. K. Ruth, Daniel H. Pletscher, M. G. Hornocker

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Large carnivores have been posited as potential conservation surrogates to inform the design and prioritization of conservation planning. We show that wolves Canis lupus and cougars Puma concolor may have potential to serve as a surrogate suite for conserving landscape heterogeneity, hypothesized to be a determinant of biodiversity in some landscapes. We examined habitat and landscape features associated with the spatial distribution of wolf- and cougar-killed prey in the basin of the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana. The spatial distribution of wolf-killed prey was driven largely by cover type, whereas physiographic characteristics were the primary driver of …

Effectiveness Of Cattle Operated Bump Gates And Exclusion Fences In Preventing Ungulate Multi-Host Sanitary Interaction, J.A. A. Barasona, K. C. Vercauteren, N. Saklou, C. Gortazar, J. Vicente

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Tuberculosis (TB) is endemic in Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) in south central Spain, where evidence suggests transmission to domestic cattle. Known risk factors for TB at the interface between livestock and wild ungulate species include density and spatial overlap, particularly around waterholes during summer. We evaluated the effectiveness of selective exclusion measures for reducing direct and indirect interaction between extensive beef cattle and wild ungulates at waterholes as an alternative for the integrated control of TB. We first monitored 6 water points (WP) with infrared-triggered cameras at a TB positive …

Use Of Patch Selection Models As A Decision Support Tool To Evaluate Mitigation Strategies Of Human–Wildlife Conflict, Sharon Baruch-Mordo, Colleen T. Webb, Stewart W. Breck, Kenneth R. Wilson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human-dominated landscapes offer spatially concentrated and reliable food resources that attract wildlife and lead to human–wildlife conflicts. Conflict management is often directed at humans (e.g., education) to reduce attractants, or foraging benefits to wildlife, or at wildlife (e.g., hazing) to increase foraging costs; but strategies can be expensive and ineffective. Because a key driver of conflict is the pursuit of food by wildlife, we used patch selection models, a dynamic, state-dependent modeling approach based on foraging theory, to assess how benefit reduction and cost increase resulting from conflict mitigation affect wildlife foraging decisions. We applied the patch selection models to …

Humoral Immune Response To Oral Rabies Vaccination In Raccoon Kits: Problems And Implications, Tricia L. Fry, Kaci K. Vandalen, Susan A. Shriner, Susan M. Moore, Cathleen A. Hanlon, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Little is known about the immunogenicity of RABORAL V-RG^® (V-RG), an oral rabies vaccine, in raccoon kits (Procyon lotor). The objectives of this study were to characterize the immunogenicity of V-RG in young kits and investigate the potential impact of maternal antibodies on response to vaccination of nursing raccoon kits. Raccoon kits (n = 30) were vaccinated at either 3 weeks of age, 7 weeks of age, or assigned as contact controls. Nineteen kits (73%) that were whelped by unvaccinated mothers responded to VRG exposure (orally or indirect contact) by production of detectable rabies virus neutralizing …

West Nile Virus Associations In Wild Mammals: A Synthesis, J. Jeffrey Root

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Exposures to West Nile virus (WNV) have been documented in a variety of wild mammals in both the New and Old Worlds. This review tabulates at least 100 mammal species with evidence of WNV exposure. Many of these exposures were detected in free-ranging mammals, while several were noted in captive individuals. In addition to exposures, this review discusses experimental infections in terms of the potential for reservoir competence of select wild mammal species. Overall, few experimental infections have been conducted on wild mammals. As such, the role of most wild mammals as potential amplifying hosts for WNV is, to date, …

Wildlife In Airport Environments: Chapter 13 Radar Technology To Monitor Hazardous Birds At Airports, Sidney A. Gauthreaux Jr., Paige M. Schmidt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bird strikes are the most common wildlife hazard to aviation safety (Dolbeer et ale 2000). Advances in habitat management at airports through the elimination and reduction of attractants, in combination with hazing and lethal control, have reduced avian hazards < 152 m (500 feet) above ground level. Bird strikes above this altitude, however, are beyond the limits of traditional wildlife control techniques (Dolbeer 2011). Traditional avian survey methods used to monitor birds at airports (Cleary and Dolbeer 2005; Chapter 14) often fail to provide essential information on local bird activity and migration at higher altitudes, hazardous bird use of attractants near airports, and bird activity at night-information that could be provided by the strategic use of radar technology at and near airports (Dolbeer 2006).

Nwrc Annual Publications List – 2013

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Deer-Activated Bioacoustic Frightening Device Deters White-Tailed Deer, Aaron M. Hildreth, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) damage urban and suburban plantings, as well as crops and stored feed. We tested the efficacy of a frightening device that played pre-recorded distress calls of adult female white-tailed deer when activated by an infrared motion sensor for a period of 13 days. This deer-activated bioacoustic frightening device reduced deer entry into protected sites by 99% (δ = -558, P = 0.09) and bait consumption by 100% (δ = -75, P = 0.06). The frightening device that we evaluated demonstrated potential for reducing damage in disturbed environments and agricultural settings.

Do Native Warm-Season Grasslands Near Airports Increase Bird Strike Hazards?, Jason A. Schmidt, Brian E. Washburn, Travis L. Devault, Thomas W. Seamans, Paige M. Schmidt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bird aircraft collisions (bird strikes) are a recognized safety hazard and land uses that attract birds hazardous to aircraft should be avoided on and near airports. Many airfields contain large areas of anthropogenic grassland habitats, often dominated by cool season grasses. Land managed as native warm season grasses (NWSG) potentially could increase bird strike hazards on and near airports by attracting hazardous birds and harboring small mammals that are prey for hazardous raptors. We investigated bird and small mammal communities at three NWSG areas and three adjacent on airfield grassland areas in western Ohio, U.S.A. to determine whether NWSG increased …

Cottontail Rabbit Papillomavirus Infection In A Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus Audubonii) From Colorado, Usa, J. Jeffrey Root, Matthew W. Hopken, Thomas Gidlewski, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A wild-caught desert cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus audubonii) from Colorado was observed to have large, pedunculated, dark cutaneous lesions on its abdomen and cylindrical masses on its mouth. Morphologically, the masses were consistent with previous reports of virally induced papillomas. Subsequent DNA analysis indicated widespread infection with cottontail rabbit papillomavirus.

New World Bats Harbor Diverse Influenza A Viruses, Suxiang Tong, Xueyong Zhu, Yan Li, Mang Shi, Jing Zhang, Melissa Bourgeois, Hua Yang, Xianfeng Chen, Sergio Recuenco, Jorge Gomez, Li-Mei Chen, Adam Johnson, Ying Tao, Cyrille Dreyfus, Wenli Yu, Ryan Mcbride, Paul J. Carney, Amy T. Gilbert, Jessie Chang, Zhu Guo, Charles T. Davis, James C. Paulson, James Stevens, Charles E. Rupprecht, Edward C. Holmes, Ian A. Wilson, Ruben O. Donis

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Aquatic birds harbor diverse influenza A viruses and are a major viral reservoir in nature. The recent discovery of influenza viruses of a new H17N10 subtype in Central American fruit bats suggests that other New World species may similarly carry divergent influenza viruses. Using consensus degenerate RT-PCR, we identified a novel influenza A virus, designated as H18N11, in a flat-faced fruit bat (Artibeus planirostris) from Peru. Serologic studies with the recombinant H18 protein indicated that several Peruvian bat species were infected by this virus. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that, in some gene segments, New World bats harbor more influenza …

Lanslide Ecology: Cover, Contents, Preface, Lawrence R. Walker, Aaron B. Shiels

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Despite their often dangerous and unpredictable nature, landslides provide fascinating templates for studying how soil organisms, plants, and animals respond to such destruction. The emerging field oflandslide ecology helps us to understand these responses, aiding slope stabilization and restoration and contributing to progress made in geological approaches to landslide prediction and mitigation.

Summarizing the growing body ofliterature on the ecological consequences of landslides, this book provides a framework for the promotion of ecological tools in predicting, stabilizing, and restoring biodiversity to landslide scars at both local and landscape scales. It explores nutrient cycling; soil development; and how organisms disperse, colonize, …

Chapter 6 Living With Landslides For Landslide Ecology, Lawrence R. Walker, Aaron B. Shiels

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Human interactions with landslides have become more frequent and lethal as our populations expand into less stable terrain. This trend suggests that we must better understand what causes landslides and how to mitigate future damage.

2. Disturbances created by road construction, urban expansion, forestry, and agriculture are major contributors to anthropogenic landslides, and each has increased in frequency during the last several decades.

3. The field of landslide risk assessment is growing rapidly, and many new mapping and modeling tools are addressing how to predict landslide frequency and severity. Mitigation of landslide damage is also improving, particularly when new …

Spatial Ecology Of Urban Raccoons In Northeastern Ohio: Implications For Oral Rabies Vaccination, Are R. Berentsen, Mike R. Dunbar, Chadd E. Fitzpatrick, W. David Walter

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In 1977, rabies was detected in a raccoon (Procyon lotor) in West Virginia, and since the mid-1980s raccoon variant rabies has spread throughout the eastern United States and moved west as far as the eastern edge of Cleveland, Ohio. The primary tool to combat this spread is the distribution of oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits. A thorough knowledge of raccoon space use is critical in determining bait placement, particularly in urban areas. We monitored nine raccoons in urban areas of Cleveland, Ohio, calculated home range sizes, monitored raccoon movement with respect to potential movement barriers, and used resource …

Behavior And Physiology In The Development And Application Of Visual Deterrents At Airports, Bradley F. Blackwell, Esteban Fernandez-Juricic

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In the first major treatise on the science of wildlife damage management, Conover (2002) dedicated a short review of visual stimuli used to deter wildlife from specific areas or resources. The brevity of the review reflects the fact that these techniques have traditionally been developed over short periods and used to conhont an immediate problem. generally through trial and error. Because humans perceive visual stimuli differently than other animals (Schwab 2012). deterrents based on human perception likely fall short in saliency of the stimuli (Le., how well the stimuli stand out against a background). However, assessment of visual stimuli (both …

Managing Airport Stormwater To Reduce Attraction To Wildlife, Bradley F. Blackwell, David Felstul, Thomas W. Seamans

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

An airport is a component of the landscape. contributing to and subject to local- and landscapelevel factors that affect wildlife populations and the hazards that these species pose to aviation (Blackwell et al. 2009, Martin et al. 2011). Water resources at and near an airport, in the form of both surface water and contained runoff, are recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as potential attractants to wildlife that pose hazards to aviation safety (FAA 2007). Surface water, including aboveground stormwater detention/retention facilities (see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2006). can represent a substantial proportion of the area within siting criteria …

Bat Incidents With U.S. Civil Aircraft, Kristen M. Biondi, Jerrold L. Belant, Travis L. Devault, James A. Martin, Guiming Wang

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife collisions with aircraft (hereafter incidents) threaten human safety and cause substantial economic loss. Although more than 97% of wildlife incidents with U.S. civil aircraft involve birds, damage is more than 4.5 times more likely to occur during a mammal incident (e.g., deer, canids). Bats are the only mammals with the potential to be struck by aircraft outside the airport environment (at least 152.4 m above ground). We examined the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database from 1990 to 2010 to estimate the frequency of bat incidents with aircraft within the U.S. and the risk relative to other …

Conclusions And Future Directions, Jerrold L. Belant, Travis L. Devault, Bradley F. Blackwell

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Although the management of wildlife at airports has seen great progress in recent decades, wildlife col~ lisians with aircraft continue to pose risks to human safety and economic losses to the aviation industry and military (Allan 2002, Dolbeer 2009). Our understanding of physiological and behavioral responses of wildlife to various types of repellents and harassment techniques has grown tremendously. Substantial in· roads have been made in developing and optimizing exclusion devices, particularly for mammals. Research and management have increased considerably in recent years, allowing us to better understand aspects of re· source use (e.g., cover, food) by wildlife and the …