Life Sciences Commons^™

New Species Records And Changes In Abundance Of Waterfowl In Northwest Greenland, K. K. Burnham, D. R. Sinnett, J. A. Johnson, J. L. Burnham, J. A. Baroch

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Breeding populations of Nearctic and Palearctic waterfowl have undergone significant changes in abundance and distribution over the past 50 years. The Avanersuaq District in northwest Greenland is home to an assemblage of waterfowl from both geographic areas; however, minimal historic or current information is available on species abundance. In 2008 and 2009, we conducted field surveys in Greenland from 76.00_ to 77.35_N for breeding and non-breeding waterfowl and have collected anecdotal field notes of avian observations over a 20-year period (1993–2012). During these periods, we documented the first observation of a Ross’s goose (Chen rossii) and the first confirmed breeding …

Influenza A Subtype H3 Viruses In Feral Swine, United States, 2011–2012, Zhixin Feng, John A. Baroch, Li-Ping Long, Yifei Xu, Frederick L. Cunningham, Kerri Pedersen, Mark W. Lutman, Brandon S. Schmidt, Andrew S. Bowman, Thomas J. Deliberto, Xiu-Feng Wan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

To determine whether, and to what extent, influenza A subtype H3 viruses were present in feral swine in the United States, we conducted serologic and virologic surveillance during October 2011–September 2012. These animals were periodically exposed to and infected with A(H3N2) viruses, suggesting they may threaten human and animal health.

Developing Transmissible Vaccines For Animal Infections: Intrinsically Safe Designs And A Staged Transparent Development Process Will Be Essential, Daniel G. Streiker, Megan E. Griffiths, Rustom Antia, Laura Bergner, Peter Bowman, Maria Vitoria Dos Santos De Moraes, Kevin Esvelt, Mike Famulare, Amy T. Gilbert, Biao He, Michael A. Jarvis, David A. Kennedy, Jennifer Kuzma, Carolyne Nasi,Iyu Wanyonyi, Christopher Remien, Tonie Rocke, Kyle Rosenke, Courtney Schreiner, Justin Sheen, David Simons, Ivet A. Yordanova, James J. Bull, Scott L. Nuismer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Developing Transmissible Vaccines for Animal Infections: Intrinsically Safe Designs and a Staged Transparent Development Process Will Be Essential

Intrinsically safe, biologically compelling vaccine designs

Pahsed development must incorporate checkpoints and engagement

Staged development with established checkpoints

Wquitable partnerships with international governance

Toward deployment

Workshop organization

Seven proposed commitm ents for the responsible development of transmissible vaccines for infectious disease control in animals

Evolutionary outcomes of vaccine transmission depend on the viral vector and the genetic modifications introduced

Identification Of Brucella Suis From Feral Swine In Selected States In The Usa, Kerri Pedersen, Christine R. Quance, Suelee Robbe-Austerman, Antionette J. Piaggio, Sarah N. Bevins, Samuel M. Goldstein, Wesson D. Gaston, Thomas J. Deliberto

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Serologic tests currently available for brucellosis diagnosis detect antibodies to Brucella but do not distinguish between species of Brucella. Although Brucella suis is known to circulate within various feral swine (Sus scrofa) populations, our objective was to determine the primary species of Brucella circulating in feral swine populations in areas of the US with high brucellosis prevalence. We cultured lymph nodes from 183 feral swine. We identified 22 isolates from 21 animals, and all isolates were genotyped as B. suis. Most isolates were B. suis biovar 1, with the exception of two genetically distinct isolates from one feral swine in …

Integrating Mammalian Hazards With Management At U.S. Civil Airports: A Case Study., Kristin M. Biondi, Jerrold L. Belant, James A. Martin, Travis L. Devault, Guiming Wang

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife incidents with U.S. civil aircraft cost an estimated $1.4 billion from 1990 to 2010, with mammals 5 times more likely to cause damage than other wildlife. We surveyed 2 general aviation (GA) airports and 6 Part-139 certificated (i.e., certified) airports to assess efficacy of management practices for mammalian species hazardous to aircraft. We obtained information on mammalian species present on airport grounds, types and estimated effectiveness of management techniques, and effort spent on wildlife management. We evaluated management techniques relative to aircraft–wildlife collisions (i.e., incident) frequencies taken from Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database and species hazard …

Consequences Associated With The Recent Range Expansion Of Nonnative Feral Swine, Sarah N. Bevins, Kerri Pedersen, Mark W. Lutman, Thomas Gidlewski, Thomas J. Deliberto

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) have been repeatedly introduced to locations around the world. Aided by both an adaptable biology and deliberate introductions by people, the range of invasive feral swine in the United States has expanded from 17 to 38 states over the past 30 years. The swine’s generalist diet combined with high population densities can complicate efforts to conserve threatened and endangered species, and losses from crop damage and livestock predation in the United States alone are estimated to be more than $1 billion. In addition, feral swine can be a reservoir for multiple pathogens, some of …

Forecasting The Spread Of Raccoon Rabies Using A Purpose-Specific Group Decision-Making Process., Aaron M. Anderson, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Richard B. Chipman, Todd C. Atwood, Tyler Cozzens, Frank Fillo, Robert Hale, Brody Hatch, Joanne Maki, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Erin E. Rees, Charles E. Rupprecht, Rowland Tinline, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Dennis Slate

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and USDA Wildlife Services (WS) have been involved in an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program for raccoons (Procyon lotor) that has slowed the westward spread of raccoon rabies. The objective of this study was to forecast the spread of the disease if an ORV zone was not maintained. A group decision-making process was designed to address the forecasting problem and was implemented using a group of 15 experts and 4 support personnel at a meeting at the USDA National Wildlife Research Center. Ten expansion regions were constructed that described the spread of …

The Scent Of Disease: Human Body Odor Contains An Early Chemosensory Cue Of Sickness, Mats J. Olsson, Johan N. Lundstrom, Bruce A. Kimball, Amy R. Gordon, Bianka Karshikoff, Nishteman Hosseini, Kimmo Sorjonen, Caroline Olgart Hoglund, Carmen Solares, Anne Soop, John Axelsson, Mats Lekander

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Observational studies have suggested that with time, some diseases result in a characteristic odor emanating from different sources on the body of a sick individual. Evolutionarily, however, it would be more advantageous if the innate immune response were detectable by healthy individuals as a first line of defense against infection by various pathogens, to optimize avoidance of contagion. We activated the innate immune system in healthy individuals by injecting them with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). Within just a few hours, endotoxin-exposed individuals had a more aversive body odor relative to when they were exposed to a placebo. Moreover, this effect was statistically …

Linking Bovine Tuberculosis On Cattle Farms To White-Tailed Deer And Environmental Variables Using Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis, W. David Walter, Rick Smith, Mike Vanderklok, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bovine tuberculosis is a bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis in livestock and wildlife with hosts that include Eurasian badgers (Meles meles), brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Risk-assessment efforts in Michigan have been initiated on farms to minimize interactions of cattle with wildlife hosts but research on M. bovis on cattle farms has not investigated the spatial context of disease epidemiology. To incorporate spatially explicit data, initial likelihood of infection probabilities for cattle farms tested for M. bovis, prevalence of M. bovis in white-tailed deer, deer density, and environmental variables for each farm were modeled in …

Evaluating Habitat Manipulations And Rodenticides To Protect Seedlings From Rodent Damage At Restored Landfills In New York, Gary W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Solid waste landfills have become rather commonplace in urbanized and industrialized regions of the world. If designed, managed, and restored properly, they can be converted to useful land uses. However, restoration of woody vegetation can be difficult when animal damage occurs. Numerous species of voles occur throughout the northern hemisphere and several may become serious pests of restoration plantings at high population density, increasing the expense and difficulty of establishing targeted plant communities. We anticipated that meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were responsible for causing the majority of damage to seedlings planted on restored landfill sites in Brooklyn, New York. We …

Impacts From Control Operations On A Recreationally Hunted Feral Swine Population At A Large Military Installation In Florida, Richard M. Engeman, Troy Hershberger, Steve Orzell, Rodney Felix, Gary Killian, John Woolard, Jon Cornman, David Romano, Chet Huddleston, Pat Zimmerman, Chris Barre, Eric A. Tillman, Michael L. Avery

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine were targeted for control at Avon Park Air Force Range in south-central Florida to avert damage to sensitive wetland habitats on the 40,000-ha base.We conducted a 5-year study to assess impacts from control to this population that had been recreationally hunted formany years. Control was initiated in early 2009. The feral swine population was monitored from 2008 to 2012 using a passive tracking index (PTI) during the dry and wet seasons and using recreational hunter take rates from the dry season. All three indices showed substantial feral swine declines after implementing control, with indices leveling for the final …

Production Of Hybrids Between Western Gray Wolves And Western Coyotes, L. David Mech, Bruce W. Christensen, Cheryl S. Asa, Margaret Callahan, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Using artificial insemination we attempted to produce hybrids between captive, male, western, gray wolves (Canis lupus) and female, western coyotes (Canis latrans) to determine whether their gametes would be compatible and the coyotes could produce and nurture offspring. The results contribute new information to an ongoing controversy over whether the eastern wolf (Canis lycaon) is a valid unique species that could be subject to the U. S. Endangered Species Act. Attempts with transcervically deposited wolf semen into nine coyotes over two breeding seasons yielded three coyote pregnancies. One coyote ate her pups, another produced a resorbed fetus and a dead …

A Pilot Study Exploring The Use Of Breath Analysis To Differentiate Healthy Cattle From Cattle Experimentally Infected With Mycobacterium Bovis, Christine K. Ellis, Randal S. Stahl, Pauline Nol, W. Ray Waters, Mitchell V. Palmer, Jack C. Rhyan, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Matthew Mccollum, M. D. Salman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bovine tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, is a zoonotic disease of international public health importance. Antemortem surveillance is essential for control; however, current surveillance tests are hampered by limitations affecting ease of use or quality of results. There is an emerging interest in human and veterinary medicine in diagnosing disease via identification of volatile organic compounds produced by pathogens and host pathogen interactions. The objective of this pilot study was to explore application of existing human breath collection and analysis methodologies to cattle as a means to identify M. bovis infection through detection of unique volatile organic compouds or changes …

Immunization Alters Body Odor, Bruce A. Kimball, Maryanne Opiekun, Kunio Yamazaki, Gary K. Beauchamp

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Infections have been shown to alter body odor. Because immune activation accompanies both infection and immunization, we tested the hypothesis that classical immunization might similarly result in the alteration of body odors detectable by trained biosensor mice. Using a Y-maze, we trained biosensor mice to distinguish between urine odors from rabies-vaccinated (RV) and unvaccinated control mice. RV-trained mice generalized this training to mice immunized with the equine West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine compared with urine of corresponding controls. These results suggest that there are similarities between body odors of mice immunized with these two vaccines. This conclusion was reinforced when …

Effects Of Vehicle Speed On Flight Initiation By Turkey Vultures: Implications For Bird-Vehicle Collisions, Travis L. Devault, Bradley F. Blackwell, Thomas W. Seamans, Steven L. Lima, Esteban Fernandez-Juricic

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The avoidance of motorized vehicles is a common challenge for birds in the modern world. Birds appear to rely on antipredator behaviors to avoid vehicles, but modern vehicles (automobiles and aircraft) are faster than natural predators. Thus, birds may be relatively ill-equipped, in terms of sensory capabilities and behaviors, to avoid vehicles. We examined the idea that birds may be unable to accurately assess particularly high speeds of approaching vehicles, which could contribute to miscalculations in avoidance behaviors and ultimately cause collisions. We baited turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) to roads with animal carcasses and measured flight initiation distance and effective …

Mitochondrial Diversity Supports Multiple Origins For Invasive Pigs, Blake E. Mccann, Mathew J. Malek, Robert A. Newman, Brandon S. Schmit, Seth R. Swafford, Richard A. Sweitzer, Rebecca B. Simmons

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Our objective was to identify and evaluate mitochondrial diversity of wild pigs in the United States (U.S.). We obtained tissue samples from 81 individual pigs in 30 U.S. states and amplified a 403 basepair region of mitochondrial DNA. We then downloaded overlapping sequences (n¼904) from public repositories to create a global reference. We used parsimony and Bayesian techniques to evaluate phylogenetic relationships, and we used origins of published sequences from Eurasian wild boar to establish a phylogeographic reference. We then compared gene and nucleotide diversity measures for introduced pigs in North America with those of domestic swine, Eurasian wild boar, …

Extended Viral Shedding Of A Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus By Striped Skunks (Mephitis Mephitis), J. Jeffrey Root, Susan A. Shriner, Kevin T. Bentler, Thomas Gidlewski, Nicole L. Mooers, Jeremy W. Ellis, Terry R. Spraker, Kaci K. Vandalen, Heather J. Sullivan, Alan B. Franklin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background: Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are susceptible to infection with some influenza A viruses. However, the viral shedding capability of this peri-domestic mammal and its potential role in influenza A virus ecology are largely undetermined.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Striped skunks were experimentally infected with a low pathogenic (LP) H4N6 avian influenza virus (AIV) and monitored for 20 days post infection (DPI). All of the skunks exposed to H4N6 AIV shed large quantities of viral RNA, as detected by real-time RT-PCR and confirmed for live virus with virus isolation, from nasal washes and oral swabs (maximum #106.02 PCR EID50 equivalent/mL and #105.19 …

Effectiveness Of Rodenticides For Managing Invasive Roof Rats And Native Deer Mice In Orchards, Roger A. Baldwin, Niamh Quinn, David H. Davis, Richard M. Engeman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Roof rats (Rattus rattus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are occasional pests of nut and tree fruit orchards throughout California and in many other parts of the USA and beyond. In general, the most practical and cost-effective control method for rodents in many agricultural environments is the use of rodenticides (toxic baits), but little or no information exists on the efficacy of current rodenticides in controlling roof rats and deer mice in orchards. Therefore, our goals were to develop an index of rodent activity to monitor efficacy of rodenticides and to subsequently test the efficacy of three California Department of …

Stochasticity In Natural Forage Production Affects Use Of Urban Areas By Black Bears: Implications To Management Of Human-Bear Conflicts, Sharon Baruch-Mordo, Kenneth R. Wilson, David L. Lewis, John Broderick, Julie S. Mao, Stewart W. Breck

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The rapid expansion of global urban development is increasing opportunities for wildlife to forage and become dependent on anthropogenic resources. Wildlife using urban areas are often perceived dichotomously as urban or not, with some individuals removed in the belief that dependency on anthropogenic resources is irreversible and can lead to increased human-wildlife conflict. For American black bears (Ursus americanus), little is known about the degree of bear urbanization and its ecological mechanisms to guide the management of human-bear conflicts. Using 6 years of GPS location and activity data from bears in Aspen, Colorado, USA, we evaluated the degree of bear …

The Evolution Of Flow Devices Used To Reduce Flooding By Beavers: A Review, Jimmy D. Taylor Ii, Russell D. Singleton

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Dams created by American beavers (Castor canadensis) are associated with positive and negative values, and beaver management decisions are based on stakeholder perception and levels of tolerance. Lethal trapping is a widely used and accepted tool to reduce beaver damage caused by flooding; however, acceptable and efficacious non-lethal tools are increasingly desired by the public. We traced the origin of non-lethal tools used to reduce beaver flooding as far back as the early 20th century, when beavers received protective status and were reintroduced to many areas across North America. These tools focus on 2 general factors—exclusion and deception—and can be …

Evolution Of Puma Lentivirus In Bobcats (Lynx Rufus) And Mountain Lions (Puma Concolor) In North America, Justin S. Lee, Sarah N. Bevins, Laurel E. K. Serleys, Winston Vickers, Ken A. Logan, Mat Aldredge, Erin E. Boydston, Lisa M. Lyren, Roy Mcbride, Melody Roelke-Parker, Jill Pecon-Slattery, Jennifer L. Troyer, Seth P. Riley, Walter M. Boyce, Kevin R. Crooks, Sue Vandewoude

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) throughout North and South America are infected with puma lentivirus clade B (PLVB). A second, highly divergent lentiviral clade, PLVA, infects mountain lions in southern California and Florida. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) in these two geographic regions are also infected with PLVA, and to date, this is the only strain of lentivirus identified in bobcats. We sequenced full-length PLV genomes in order to characterize the molecular evolution of PLV in bobcats and mountain lions. Low sequence homology (88% average pairwise identity) and frequent recombination (1 recombination breakpoint per 3 isolates analyzed) were observed …

Avian Paramyxovirus Serotype 1 (Newcastle Disease Virus), Avian Influenza Virus, And Salmonella Spp. In Mute Swans (Cygnus Olor) In The Great Lakes Region And Atlantic Coast Of The United States, Kerri Pedersen, David R. Marks, Dustin M. Arsnoe, Claudio L. Afonso, Sarah N. Bevins, Patti J. Miller, Adam R. Randall, Thomas J. Deliberto

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Since their introduction to the United States in the late 19th century, mute swans (Cygnus olor) have become a nuisance species by causing damage to aquatic habitats, acting aggressively toward humans, competing with native waterfowl, and potentially transmitting or serving as a reservoir of infectious diseases to humans and poultry. In an effort to investigate their potential role as a disease reservoir and to establish avian health baselines for pathogens that threaten agricultural species or human health, we collected samples from 858 mute swans and tested them for avian paramyxovirus serotype 1 (APMV-1), avian influenza virus (AIV), and Salmonella spp. …

Crossing The Interspecies Barrier: Opening The Door To Zoonotic Pathogens, Christian Gortazar, Leslie A. Reperant, Thijs Kuiken, Jose De La Fuente, Mariana Boadella, Beatriz Martinez-Lopez, Francisco Ruiz-Fons, Agusitn Estrada-Pena, Christian Drosten, Graham Medley, Richard Ostfeld, Townsend Peterson, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Christian Menge, Marc Artois, Constance Schultsz, Richard Delahay, Jordi Sierra-Cobo, Robert Poulin, Frederic Keck, Alonso A. Aguirre, Heikki Henttonen, Andrew P. Dobson, Susan Kutz, Juan Lubroth, Atle Mysterud

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The number of pathogens known to infect humans is ever increasing. Whether such increase reflects improved surveillance and detection or actual emergence of novel pathogens is unclear. Nonetheless, infectious diseases are the second leading cause of human mortality and disability-adjusted life years lost worldwide [1,2]. On average, three to four new pathogen species are detected in the human population every year [3]. Most of these emerging pathogens originate from nonhuman animal species. Zoonotic pathogens represent approximately 60% of all known pathogens able to infect humans [4]. Their occurrence in humans relies on the human-animal interface, defined as the continuum of …

Movement Characteristics Of American Beavers (Castor Canadensis), Lance F. Mcclintic, Guiming Wang, Jimmy D. Taylor Ii, Jeanne C. Jones

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Physiological states and foraging behaviors may shape movement patterns of animals. Optimal foraging theory and what we term the deliberate movement hypothesis predict that, to reduce predation risk, central place foragers should move faster with smaller turning angles the further they are from their central place. The complementary bimodal foraging trip hypothesis predicts that the distribution of foraging distances exhibited by central place foragers should be bimodal due to a trade-off between provisioning offspring and self-feeding. We used radio-telemetry to test these hypotheses for American beavers (Castor canadensis) in northern Alabama, United States. American beavers moved faster with …

Influence Of Egg Oiling On Colony Presence Of Ring-Billed Gulls, Travis L. Devault, Paige M. Schmidt, Fred E. Pogmore, John Gobeille, Jerrold L. Belant, Thomas W. Seamans

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Egg oiling is a form of management in which bird eggs are coated with mineral or corn oil, preventing gas exchange through the shell and killing embryos. Unlike other nestdisturbance techniques, egg oiling reportedly precludes colony abandonment and, thus, can be advantageous when managers wish to limit dispersal within the breeding season to other locations while stabilizing the population or reducing productivity. However, unintended, indirect effects of egg oiling are not well-characterized. We evaluated the influence of egg oiling on ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) within the Lake Champlain basin, Vermont, during the nesting season to determine whether egg …

Testing A Molasses-Based Bait For Oral Vaccination Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus ) Against Mycobacterium Bovis, M. V. Palmer, M. R. Stafne, W. R. Waters, T. C. Thacker, G. E. Phillips

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Michigan, USA, are wildlife reservoirs of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) with documented spread to cattle. In vaccine efficacy trials, Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) administered orally reduces colonization and bTB-associated lesions in white-tailed deer after experimental challenge with virulent M. bovis. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the palatability of a molasses-based bait for oral delivery of BCG to white-tailed deer. Relevant practical properties of the bait such as physical stability under various environmental conditions were evaluated, as well as palatability. Captive deer consumed baits within 3 h of …

Potential Citric Acid Exposure And Toxicity To Hawaiian Hoary Bats (Lasiurus Cinereus Semotus) Associated With Eleutherodactylus Frog Control, William C. Pitt, Gary W. Witmer, Susan M. Jojola, Hans Sin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We examined potential exposure of Hawaiian hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) to citric acid, a minimum risk pesticide registered for control of invasive Eleutherodactylus frog populations. Hoary bats are nocturnal insectivores that roost solitarily in foliage, federally listed as endangered, and are endemic to Hawaii. Oral ingestion during grooming of contaminated fur appears to be the principal route by which these bats might be exposed to citric acid. We made assessments of oral toxicity, citric acid consumption, retention of material on fur, and grooming using big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) as a surrogate species. We evaluated both ground application and …

Weighing Empirical And Hypothetical Evidence For Assessing Potential Invasive Species Range Limits: A Review Of The Case Of Burmese Pythons In The Usa, Richard M. Engeman, Michael L. Avery, Elliot Jacobson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Range expansion potential is an important consideration for prioritizing management actions against an invasive species. Understanding the potential for range expansion by invasive reptiles such as the Burmese python can be challenging, because the lack of knowledge on fundamental physiological and behavioral constraints initially forces reliance on modeling to predict hypothetical invasive range potential. Hypothetical predictions for Burmese python range limits in the USA have been highly divergent, from only extreme South Florida and the extreme southern Gulf edge of Texas to a broad swath over the southern third of the continental USA. Empirical observations on python thermal tolerances and …

Wintering Ecology Of Adult North American Ospreys, Brian E. Washburn, Mark S. Martell, Richard O. Bierregaard Jr., Charles J. Henny, Brian S. Dorr, Thomas J. Olexa

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

North American Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) typically migrate long distances to their wintering grounds in the tropics. Beyond the general distribution of their wintering range (i.e., the Caribbean, South America, and Central America), very little is known about the wintering ecology of these birds. We used satellite telemetry to determine the duration of wintering period, to examine the characteristics of wintering areas used by Ospreys, and to quantify space use and activity patterns of wintering Ospreys. Adult Ospreys migrated to wintering sites and exhibited high wintering site fidelity among years. Overall, Ospreys wintered on river systems (50.6%) more than …

Review Of Wildlife Damage Management: Prevention, Problem Solving And Conflict Resolution, Travis L. Devault

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife damage management (WDM) is more challenging than it might seem to the uninitiated. As any reader of Human–Wildlife Interactions knows, there is much more to WDM than trapping nuisance raccoons from attics and applying chemicals to ward off deer from ornamental plants. Although these issues are important (especially if it is your attic or landscaping), WDM also encompasses global problems, such as invasive species, wildlife diseases and zoonoses, wildlife–vehicle collisions, and conservation of rare species in human-dominated landscapes. Further, WDM rests on principles from ecology, physiology, animal behavior, human psychology, and economics, all of which must be understood and …