Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Wildlife Responses To Livestock Guard Dogs And Domestic Sheep On Open Range, Daniel Kinka, Jeffrey T. Schultz, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are an attractant to carnivores; however, sheep are often accompanied by humans and livestock guardian dogs (LGDs; Canis familiaris), which defend sheep from depredation. Sheep also compete directly with wildlife for grazing resources. Although practiced for millennia in much of the world outside North America, the effect that transhumance has on wildlife is poorly understood. To test the effect of sheep bands (sheep, humans, and LGDs) on wildlife, we modeled the detection probability of wild mammals relative to the presence of sheep bands in the Northwestern United States. Sheep band presence was associated …

Mongooses (Urva Auropunctata) As Reservoir Hosts Of Leptospira Species In The United States Virgin Islands, 2019–2020, Hannah M. Cranford, A. Springer Browne, Karen Lecount, Tammy Anderson, Camila Hamond, Linda Schlater, Tod Stuber, Valicia J. Burke-France, Marissa Taylor, Cosme J. Harrison, Katia Y. Matias, Alexandra Medley, John Rossow, Nicholas Wiese, Leanne Jankelunas, Leah De Wilde, Michelle Mehalick, Gerard L. Blanchard, Keith R. Garcia, Alan S. Mckinley, Claudia D. Lombard, Nicole F. Angeli, David Horner, Thomas Kelley, David J. Worthington, Jennifer Valiulis, Bethany Bradford, Are Berentsen, Johanna S. Salzer, Renee Galloway, Ilana J. Schafer, Kristine Bisgard, Joseph Roth, Brett R. Ellis, Esther M. Ellis, Jarlath E. Nally

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

During 2019–2020, the Virgin Islands Department of Health investigated potential animal reservoirs of Leptospira spp., the bacteria that cause leptospirosis. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated Leptospira spp. exposure and carriage in the small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata, syn: Herpestes auropunctatus), an invasive animal species. This study was conducted across the three main islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), which are St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. We used the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), fluorescent antibody test (FAT), real-time polymerase chain reaction (lipl32 rt-PCR), and bacterial culture to evaluate serum and kidney specimens and compared the …

Better Tired Than Lost: Turtle Ant Trail Networks Favor Coherence Over Short Edges, Arjun Chandrasekhar, James A. R. Marshall, Cortnea Austin, Saket Navlakha, Deborah M. Gordon

Student Published Works

Creating a routing backbone is a fundamental problem in both biology and engineering. The routing backbone of the trail networks of arboreal turtle ants (Cephalotes goniodontus) connects many nests and food sources using trail pheromone deposited by ants as they walk. Unlike species that forage on the ground, the trail networks of arboreal ants are constrained by the vegetation. We examined what objectives the trail networks meet by comparing the observed ant trail networks with networks of random, hypothetical trail networks in the same surrounding vegetation and with trails optimized for four objectives: minimizing path length, minimizing average …

Importance Of Woodland Patches As Hibernacula For Gartersnakes In A Prairie River Floodplain Of Central Nebraska, Tony Bridger, Keith Geluso

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Gartersnakes are common inhabitants along prairie rivers in the Great Plains, but little information is known about hibernacula among diverse floodplain habitats. We radio-tracked Common Gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) and Plains Gartersnakes (Thamnophis radix) to hibernacula on islands in a braided river system subject to frequent environmental changes along the Platte River in central Nebraska. We further examined capture rates of gartersnakes in floodplain woodland patches from June to November to examine seasonal use of this habitat. In early and mid-September, movements of snakes with transmitters were in grasslands. From late September to mid-October, the farthest movements …

The Sandhill Crane State: A Naturalist’S Guide To Nebraska, Paul Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This book includes the locations, descriptions, and points of biological, historical, geological, or paleontological interest of nearly 350 sites in Nebraska, most of which are free to access. Its 53,000 words include accounts of 9 state historical parks, 8 state parks, 2 national forests, 2 national monuments, and 7 national wildlife refuges as well as 181 wildlife management areas, 56 waterfowl production areas, and 54 state recreation areas. It also includes 48 state and county maps, 18 drawings, 33 photographs, and nearly 200 literature citations.

doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1305

Assessing The Dispersal And Recruitment Of Stocked Walleye Fry In A Northern Minnesota Chain Of Lakes, Joseph W. Amundson

Biology Graduate Theses

As part of Minnesota's Walleye Sander vitreus egg take practice, 10% of eggs taken for hatchery purposes are stocked back into the donor lake. For Andrusia, part of the Cass Lake Chain of Lakes (Chain), this practice can result in elevated fry densities (mean: 17,000 fry/littoral hectare). However, if fry are able to disperse and use all available littoral hectares throughout the Chain, fry densities would be intermediate to typical stocking densities for Minnesota lakes (1,200 - 2,400 fry/littoral hectare). In 2016-2018, 3-3.5 million fry were mass-marked by immersion in oxytetracycline (OTC) prior to stocking into Andrusia to allow differentiation …

Fisheries Science Update – October 2021: West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Fisheries Occasional Publications

Key points: 2021 stock assessment outcomes • The West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource (WCDSR) is halfway into a 20-year recovery plan following a period of overfishing in the 1990s and 2000s. • This latest assessment provides an important “health check” on the recovery status. • The recovery plan is based on maintaining recreational (including charter) and commercial sector’s total fishing mortality below catch limits and protecting key spawning aggregations to recover the WCDSR by 2030. • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) tracks recovery progress by undertaking weight of evidence stock assessments of WCDSR indicator species dhufish …

Range-Wide Indicators Of African Great Ape Density Distribution, Isabel Ordaz‐Németh, Tenekwetche Sop, Bala Amarasekaran, Mona Bachmann, Christophe Boesch, Terry Brncic, Damien Caillaud, Geneviève Campbell, Joana Carvalho, Rebecca Chancellor, Tim R. B. Davenport, Dervla Dowd, Manasseh Eno‐Nku, Jessica Ganas‐Swaray, Nicholas Granier, Elizabeth Greengrass, Stefanie Heinicke, Ilka Herbinger, Clement Inkamba‐Nkulu, Fortuné Iyenguet, Jessica Junker, Kadiri S. Bobo, Alain Lushimba, Fiona Maisels, Guy Aimé Florent Malanda, Maureen S. Mccarthy, Prosper Motsaba, Jennifer Moustgaard, Mizuki Murai, Bezangoye Ndokoue, Stuart Nixon, Rostand Aba'a Nseme, Zacharie Nzooh, Lilian Pintea, Andrew J. Plumptre, Justin Roy, Aaron S. Rundus, Jim Sanderson, Adeline Serckx, Samantha Strindberg, Clement Tweh, Hilde Vanleeuwe, Ashley Vosper, Matthias Waltert, Elizabeth A. Williamson, Michael Wilson, Roger Mundry, Hjalmar S. Kühl

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

Species distributions are influenced by processes occurring at multiple spatial scales. It is therefore insufficient to model species distribution at a single geographic scale, as this does not provide the necessary understanding of determining factors. Instead, multiple approaches are needed, each differing in spatial extent, grain, and research objective. Here, we present the first attempt to model continent-wide great ape density distribution. We used site-level estimates of African great ape abundance to (1) identify socioeconomic and environmental factors that drive densities at the continental scale, and (2) predict range-wide great ape density. We collated great ape abundance estimates from 156 …

Free-Ranging And Feral Cats, Alex Dutcher, Kyle Pias, Grant Sizemore, Stephen M. Vantassel

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Domestic cats (Felis catus) are a common household pet in the United States, with an estimated 25.4% of households owning cats (American Veterinary Medical Association 2018). While an increasing number of cat owners keep their pet cats exclusively indoors, a portion of society maintains that domestic cats are entitled to a free-ranging lifestyle and may even consider unowned domestic cats to be wildlife. Although wildlife managers recognize the beliefs of many concerned stakeholders, including advocates who use strong emotional appeals on behalf of cats, it remains that free-ranging and feral domestic cats are an invasive species spread by humans (Lowe …

A Ladder Of Endemicity: A Pioneering Study Of Anuran Communities Along An Elevational Gradient In The Eastern Andean Cloud Forests, Ecuador, Ella Halbert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Per unit of area, Ecuador is home to the most herpetofauna of any region on Earth, yet many ecosystems are under researched. Positioned between the Eastern Andes and the Amazon rainforest, the Río Pastaza Basin of Ecuador has been the recent focus of anuran biodiversity surveys and is home to many endemic species. This study aimed to determine how the anuran community composition of a vertical transect in the Llanganates National Park varied between elevations. A 7-day expedition was conducted along a new trail up Abitagua Range spanning 1,050 m in elevation. Each night, visual encounter surveys were employed to …

A Phenological Analysis Of Páramo Vegetation Along An Altitudinal Gradient: The Influence Of Camelids On Andean Flora In The Páramo Of Chimborazo, Ecuador, Tessa Seifried

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study hopes to reveal the mechanisms behind camelid-plant interactions in the Chimborazo province of Ecuador, which is known for having a large population of domesticated alpacas (Vicugna pacos), along with wild vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) that were reintroduced into the area 30 years ago. These camelid species, especially vicuñas, are understudied within Ecuador in regards to their effects on plant composition, diversity, and spatial phenology. To gain a better insight into this topic, three sites were chosen: a site inhabited by only vicuña, a site inhabited by only alpaca, and a site inhabited by both species. The vicuña site sat …

How Birds During Migration Maintain (Oxidative) Balance, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Wales A. Carter, Clara Cooper-Mullin, Kristen J. Demoranville, Abigail E. Frawley, Barbara J. Pierce, Megan Skrip

Biology Faculty Publications

Animals dynamically adjust their physiology and behavior to survive in changing environments, and seasonal migration is one life stage that demonstrates these dynamic adjustments. As birds migrate between breeding and wintering areas, they incur physiological demands that challenge their antioxidant system. Migrating birds presumably respond to these oxidative challenges by up-regulating protective endogenous systems or accumulating dietary antioxidants at stopover sites, although our understanding of the pre-migration preparations and mid-migration responses of birds to such oxidative challenges is as yet incomplete. Here we review evidence from field and captive-bird studies that address the following questions: (1) Do migratory birds build …

An Opportunistic Survey Reveals An Unexpected Coronavirus Diversity Hotspot In North America, Hon S. Ip, Kathryn M. Griffin, Jeffrey D. Messer, Megan E. Winzeler, Susan A. Shriner, Mary Lea Killian, Mia Kim Torchetti, Thomas J. Deliberto, Brian R. Amman, Caitlin M. Cossaboom, R. Reid Harvey, Natalie M. Wendling, Hannah Rettler, Dean Taylor, Jonathan S. Towner, Casey Barton Behravesh, David S. Blehert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In summer 2020, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detected on mink farms in Utah. An interagency One Health response was initiated to assess the extent of the outbreak and included sampling animals from on or near affected mink farms and testing them for SARS-CoV-2 and non-SARS coronaviruses. Among the 365 animals sampled, including domestic cats, mink, rodents, raccoons, and skunks, 261 (72%) of the animals harbored at least one coronavirus. Among the samples that could be further characterized, 127 alphacoronaviruses and 88 betacoronaviruses (including 74 detections of SARS-CoV-2 in mink) were identified. Moreover, at least 10% (n …

Variations, Validations, Degradations, And Noninvasive Determination Of Pregnancy Using Fecal Steroid Metabolites In Free-Ranging Pronghorn, Cole A. Bleke, Eric M. Gese, Susannah S. French

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Pregnancy status is a key parameter used to assess reproductive performance of a species as it represents a starting point for measuring vital rates. Vital rates allow managers to determine trends in populations such as neonate survival and recruitment; two important factors in ungulate population growth rates. Techniques to determine pregnancy have generally involved capture and restraint of the animal to obtain blood samples for determining serum hormone levels. Non-invasive pregnancy assessment, via feces, eliminates any hazards between handler and animal, as well as removes handling-induced physiological biases. Using noninvasive fecal sampling, we conducted hormone validations, investigated pregnancy rates, and …

Satellite-Detected Ammonia Changes In The United States: Natural Or Anthropogenic Impacts, Yaqian He, Rongting Xu, Stephen A. Prior, Di Yang, Anni Yang, Jian Chen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Ammonia (NH3) is the most abundant alkaline component and can react with atmospheric acidic species to form aerosols that can lead to numerous environmental and health issues. Increasing atmospheric NH3 over agricultural regions in the US has been documented. However, spatiotemporal changes of NH3 concentrations over the entire US are still not thoroughly understood, and the factors that drive these changes remain unknown. Herein, we applied the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) monthly NH3 dataset to explore spatiotemporal changes in atmospheric NH3 and the empirical relationships with synthetic N fertilizer application, livestock manure production, and climate factors across the entire US …

Cytoarchitectural Characteristics Associated With Cognitive Flexibility In Raccoons, Joanna Jacob, Molly Kent, Sarah Benson-Amram, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Mary Ann Raghanti, Emily Ploppert, Jack Drake, Bilal Hindi, Nick R. Natale, Sarah Daniels, Rachel Fanelli, Anderson Miller, Tim Landis, Amy Gilbert, Shylo Johnson, Annie Lai, Molly Hyer, Amanda Rzucidlo, Chris Anchor, Stan Gehrt, Kelly Lambert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

With rates of psychiatric illnesses such as depression continuing to rise, additional preclinical models are needed to facilitate translational neuroscience research. In the current study, the raccoon (Procyon lotor) was investigated due to its similarities with primate brains, including comparable proportional neuronal densities, cortical magnification of the forepaw area, and cortical gyrification. Specifically, we report on the cytoarchitectural characteristics of raccoons profiled as high, intermediate, or low solvers in a multiaccess problem-solving task. Isotropic fractionation indicated that high-solvers had significantly more cells in the hippocampus (HC) than the other solving groups; further, a nonsignificant trend suggested that this …

Adaptation Of An Artificial Bait To An Automated Aerial Delivery System For Landscape-Scale Brown Treesnake Suppression, Rafael A. Garcia, Thomas W. Mcauliffe, Lorelie P. Bumanlag, Shane R. Siers, Bruce A. Kimball

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Dead neonatal mice are currently used as bait for delivery of toxin to invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam; once deployed in the field the mice are highly attractive to the snakes but only for about four days. An artificial bait containing a mixture of fats mimicking those in skin of the mice is also highly attractive to the snakes and remains attractive 2–3 times longer. The artificial bait, however, costs more than the mice, and is more difficult to attach to the capsules of a novel aerial bait delivery system. This paper describes a reformulation of the bait …

Movement, Space-Use And Resource Preferences Of European Golden Jackals In Human-Dominated Landscapes: Insights From A Telemetry Study, Skye Fenton, Paul R. Moorcroft, Duško Ćirović, József Lanszki, Miklós Heltai, Francesca Cagnacci, Stewart Breck, Neda Bogdanović, Ilija Pantelić, Kornél Ács, Nathan Ranc

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

During the last half-century, the distribution of golden jackals (Canis aureus) has rapidly increased throughout Europe. Today, golden jackals are thriving in human-dominated landscapes across Southeastern and Central Europe. Most studies on golden jackals have focused on large-scale distribution patterns; to date, little is known about the species’ fine-scale spatial ecology. In this study, we analyzed the movement behavior, space-use and resource selection of six golden jackals fitted with GPS-GSM collars in two study areas in Hungary and Serbia. Two of the jackals were a breeding pair. We found that home range size averaged 11.2 km² (90% …

Effects Of Translocation On Survival Of Nuisance Bears, Javan Bauder, D. Ruid, N. M. Roberts, B. Kohn, M. L. Allen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Effective mitigation of human–wildlife conflict should aim to reduce conflicts while also minimizing wildlife mortality. Translocation is often used to mitigate human–wildlife conflict but translocated individuals may have reduced survival, which could negatively affect population growth and social acceptance of translocation as a management tool. Yet, non-translocated nuisance individuals may also have low survival due to inherent risks associated with nuisance behavior. We used a 38-year dataset of 1233 marked and translocated nuisance American black bears (Ursus americanus) as a model system with which to evaluate the impacts of translocation on nuisance bear survival. We used multi-state mark-recapture models to …

Threading The Needle: How Humans Influence Predator–Prey Spatiotemporal Interactions In A Multiple-Predator System, Asia Murphy, Duane R. Diefenbach, Mark Ternent, Matt Lovallo, David Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Perceived predation risk and the resulting antipredator behaviour varies across space, time and predator identity. Communities with multiple predators that interact and differ in their use of space, time of activity and hunting mode create a complex landscape for prey to avoid predation. Anthropogenic presence and disturbance have the potential to shift interactions among predators and prey and the where and when encounters occur. We examined how white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus fawn spatiotemporal antipredator behaviour differed along an anthropogenic disturbance gradient that had black bears Ursus americanus, coyotes Canis latrans, bobcats Lynx rufus and humans present. We quantified (a) spatial …

A New Species Of Pseudouroctonus From The Pinaleño Mountains, Southern Arizona (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae), Richard F. Ayrey, František Kovařík, Brandon T. Myers

Euscorpius

A new scorpion species, Pseudouroctonus moyeri sp. n. (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae) is described. This large, dark, reddish brown species is found in the Pinaleño Mountains, Arizona. This is the largest species of Pseudouroctonus found in Arizona. Ruberhieronymus Rossi, 2018 is synonymized with Pseudouroctonus Stahnke, 1974

Four New Lithophilic Species Of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 (Scorpiones: Scorpiopidae) From Peninsular India, Shauri Sulakhe, Shubhankar Deshpande, Nikhil Dandekar, Anand Padhye, Deshabhushan Bastawade

Euscorpius

Four new lithophilic species of Scorpiops Peters, 1861 (Scorpiopidae) have been described from peninsular India using an integrated taxonomic approach. Three species Scorpiops vrushchik sp. n., S. nagphani sp. n. and S. neera sp. n. have been described from northern Western Ghats and S. lioneli sp. n. is described from Deccan Plateau. S. vrushchik sp. n. is closely related to S. tenuicauda and S. telbaila and differs by a raw genetic divergence of 9.6-9.8% from S. tenuicauda and 11% from S. telbaila. S. nagphani sp. n. is closely related to S. lioneli sp. n. and S. maharashtraensis and differs by …

Otoliths Of South-Western Australian Fish: A Photographic Catalogue, Chris Dowling, Kim Smith, Elaine Lek, Joshua Brown

Fisheries Research Reports

Due to the species-specific nature of otoliths and given they are often the only part of the fish preserved when fish die, otolith catalogues can be used in numerous applications, such as diet studies in fish eating animals, including pinnipeds, fish and sea birds; archaeological purposes such as reconstructing indigenous people’s diets from otoliths found in middens or evolutionary history of fish species by comparing fossilized otoliths. Given the unique mixture of subtropical and temperate fish, including many endemic species that occur off the southwest corner of WA having a catalogue for this area is extremely important for people working …

2020 (32nd) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

ebraska: 2017” (NOURC 2017).

Nebraska State List: The following includes all revisions made by the American Ornithological Society (Chesser et al. 2020) in 2020 including scientific name changes and taxonomic realignment that affect the current published “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska: 2017” (NOURC 2017, wwwNOUbirds.org). This report includes all accounts submitted during the 2020 calendar year covering 29 records with accession numbers 2258 – 2286.

2020 Additions/Deletions to the “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska”: Two new species were added in 2020.: Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) 1. A single bird was photographed (Class 1-P, TL) 26 April …

A Brown-Capped Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile Atricapillus) In Sarpy County, Nebraska, W. Ross Silcock, Phil Swanson

Nebraska Bird Review

Beginning 31 May 2021, Phil Swanson captured a series of videos and photos of an apparent family group of Black-capped Chickadees (BCCH). Five birds were seen together through 2 June, 2-4 through 6 June, and 2-3 through 9 June, during which all sightings included begging. Thereafter 1-2 birds per day were seen but without interactions between them. One of the family group had a brown cap (Figures 1, 2), and was presumably a juvenile based on its propensity for begging for food and partial replacement of its greater coverts (Pyle 1997). This condition has been described as “rare” (Sibley 2011), …

Summer Field Report, June-July 2021, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Last summer my opening sentences were: “Overall, this was a fairly routine summer although birders in Nebraska know that ‘routine’ still holds promise of a few happenings out of the ordinary. The summer season primarily examines new breeding records, range expansions, and changes in numbers, up or down.” This summer was also rather routine but had its share of startling events. Foremost among these were only the second colony breeding of American White Pelicans, involving 1200 on nests; two, possibly the same, male Evening Grosbeaks in the southeast; record late by about a month Townsend’s Solitaire; two Lincoln’s Sparrows together …

Diminishing Returns: Results Of Black Rail Surveys In Nebraska, Joel G. Jorgensen, Lauren Greenwalt, Nancy E. Drilling, Caleb Strand, Stephen J. Brenner

Nebraska Bird Review

The uncertain status of the Black Rail in Nebraska is problematic. Different authors have interpreted existing reports differently resulting in varying conclusions about the species’ status. The exercise of deciphering the limited details of existing reports and litigating their credibility is of little value. The Black Rail is now a threatened species and there is almost no published information on whether it occurs regularly in Nebraska. Furthermore, the species has not been searched for in any consistent form or systematic manner. Without information and understanding about the species’ occurrence, taking actions to benefit and protect this species will undoubtedly be …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 89 September 2021 Number 3

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June - July 2021 by W. Ross Silcock 106

Diminishing Returns: Results of Black Rail Surveys in Nebraska by Joel G. Jorgensen, Lauren Greenwalt, Nancy E. Drilling, Caleb Strand and Stephen J. Brenner 128

A Brown-capped Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) in Sarpy County, Nebraska by W. Ross Silcock and Phil Swanson 136

2020 (32nd) Report of the NOU Records Committee by Mark A. Brogie 139

Black-throated Gray Warbler in Knox County, Nebraska by Mark A. Brogie 146

Subscription and Organization Information 147

Black-Throated Gray Warbler In Knox County, Nebraska, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (NOURC) considers Black-throated Gray Warbler (Setophaga nigrescens) to be Accidental in Nebraska (NOURC 2017). Silcock and Jorgensen (2020) list a total of seven accepted records with only two occurring in fall: an adult male at the Hyannis Cemetery, Grant Co., 01 Sep 2002 (Brogie 2003) and a female at Oliver Reservoir, Kimball Co., 07 Sep 2001 (Silcock 2001). The following documents the third Nebraska fall record for Black-throated Gray Warbler, the third record east of the Nebraska Panhandle, the first for northeast Nebraska, and the only NOURC accepted record (#2338) in the last decade.

Plague Exposure In Mammalian Wildlife Across The Western United States, Sarah N. Bevins, Jeffrey C. Chandler, Nicole Barrett, Brandon S. Schmit, Gerald W. Wiscomb, Susan A. Shriner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Plague is caused by a bacterial pathogen (Yersinia pestis) that can infect a wide range of mammal species, but its presence in wildlife is often underappreciated. Using a large-scale data set (n = 44,857) that details the extent of Y. pestis exposure in wildlife, we document exposure in 18 wildlife species, including coyotes (Canis latrans), bobcats (Lynx rufus), and black bears (Ursus americanus). Evidence of plague activity is widespread, with seropositive animals detected in every western state in the contiguous United States. Pathogen monitoring systems in wildlife that are both large scale …