Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Disease Progression And Serological Assay Performance In Heritage Breed Pigs Following Brucella Suis Experimental Challenge As A Model For Naturally Infected Feral Swine, Vienna R. Brown, Ryan S. Miller, Courtney F. Bowden, Timothy J. Smyser, Nicholas A. Ledesma, Aim E. Hartwig, Paul Gordy, Aaron M. Anderson, Stephanie M. Porter, Kate Alexander, Zane Gouker, Tom Gidlewski, Richard A. Bowen, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive feral swine (Sus scrofa) are one of the most important wildlife species for disease surveillance in the United States, serving as a reservoir for various diseases of concern for the health of humans and domestic animals. Brucella suis, the causative agent of swine brucellosis, is one such pathogen carried and transmitted by feral swine. Serology assays are the preferred field diagnostic for B. suis infection, as whole blood can be readily collected and antibodies are highly stable. However, serological assays frequently have lower sensitivity and specificity, and few studies have validated serological assays for B. suis in feral swine. …

Validation Of A Nutria (Myocastor Coypus) Environmental Dna Assay Highlights Considerations For Sampling Methodology, Anna M. Mangan, John A. Kronenberger, Ian H. Plummer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Nutria (Myocastor coypus) is a semiaquatic rodent species that is invasive across multiple regions within the United States. Here, we evaluated a qPCR assay previously described for use in Japan for application across invasive populations in the United States. We also compared two environmental DNA sampling methodologies for this assay: field filtration of large volumes of water passed through filters versus direct sampling of small volumes of water. We validated assay specificity, generality, and sensitivity, compared assay performance between two independent laboratories, and successfully tested the assay in situ on a known wild population. The filtration method required …

Perturbations Highlight Importance Of Social History In Parakeet Rank Dynamics, Annemarie Van Der Marel, Xavier Francis, Claire L. O'Connell, Cesar O. Estien, Chelsea Carminito, Virginia Darby Moore, Nickolas Lormand, Bryan M. Kluever, Elizabeth A. Hobson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Dominance hierarchies can provide many benefits to individuals, such as access to resources or mates, depending on their ranks. In some species, rank can emerge as a product of a group’s history of social interactions. However, it can be difficult to determine whether social history is critical to rank in observation-based studies. Here, we investigated rank dynamics in three captive groups of monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus). We used experimental social perturbations to test whether social history shapes rank emergence in these groups. Using targeted removals and reintroductions, we tested whether differently ranked individuals could re-take their ranks in hierarchies after …

Evaluation Of Roost Culling As A Management Strategy For Reducing Invasive Rose‑Ringed Parakeet (Psittacula Krameri) Populations, C. Janes Anderson, Leonard A. Brennan, William P. Bukoski, Steven C. Hess, Clayton D. Hilton, Aaron B. Shiels, Shane Siers, Bryan M. Kluever, Page E. Klug

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) are one of the most widespread invasive avian species worldwide. This species was introduced to the island of Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, USA, in the 1960s. The rapidly increasing population has caused substantial economic losses in the agricultural and tourism industries. We evaluated the efficacy of a roost culling program conducted by an independent contractor from March 2020 to March 2021. We estimated island-wide minimum abundance was 10,512 parakeets in January 2020 and 7,372 in April 2021. Over 30 nights of culling at four roost sites, approximately 6,030 parakeets were removed via air rifles with 4,415 …

Demographic And Functional Responses Of Kit Foxes To Changes In Prey Abundance, Ashley E. Hodge, Eric M. Gese, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Many carnivores exhibit demographic and functional responses to changes in prey abundance. Demographic responses often include changes in population size, litter size, and recruitment of young into the adult population. Functional feeding responses are commonly reported for many carnivore species. We investigated demographic and functional responses of kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis Merriam, 1888) to changes in prey abundance during 2010–2013 in western Utah, USA. Between 2010 and 2013, litter size averaged 3.9 (±1.4) pups/litter. Survival rates of kit fox pups were 0.07, 0.01, 0.46, and 0.16, respectively, and there was a correlation between pup survival rates and rodent abundance; …

Interspecific Oral Rabies Vaccine Bait Competition In The Southeast United States, Wesley C. Dixon, Jacob E. Hill, Richard Chipman, Amy J. Davis, Amy Gilbert, James C. Beasley, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Guha Dharmarajan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) has coordinated the use of oral rabies vaccination (ORV) to control the spread of raccoon rabies virus variant west of the Appalachian Mountains since 1997. Working with state and local partners, the NRMP deploys ORV baits containing a rabies vaccine, primarily targeting raccoon populations (Procyon lotor). Bait competition between raccoons and non-target species may limit the effectiveness of ORV programs, but the extent of bait competition remains poorly quantified, particularly in the southeastern United States. We placed placebo ORV baits in bottomland hardwood (n = 637 baits) and upland …

Social Network Analysis Of White-Tailed Deer Scraping Behavior: Implications For Disease Transmission, Michael E. Egan, Kim M. Pepin, Justin Fischer, Scott R. Hygnstrom, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Host contact structure affects pathogen transmission in host populations, but many measures of host contact do not distinguish contacts that are relevant to pathogen transmission from those that are not. Scrapes are sites for chemical communication by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) during the breeding season and potential sites of transmission of prions, the causative agent of chronic wasting disease (CWD). Scrape-related behaviors vary in their probability of transmitting prions to or from the environment, suggesting that behavior be combined with contact structure to better reflect potential heterogeneity in prion transmission at scrapes. We recorded visits and behaviors by …

Comparison Of An Antioxidant Source And Antioxidant Plus Bcaa On Athletic Performance And Post Exercise Recovery Of Horses, Emily Kent, Stephen J. Coloman, Jason E. Bruemmer, Renan Regatieri Casagrande, Christine Levihn, Grace Romo, Kevin Herkelman, Tanja Hess

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Antioxidant supplementation decreases postexercise oxidative stress but could also decrease muscle pro- tein synthesis. This study compared the effects of three diets: low antioxidant (control, CON), high an- tioxidant (AO), and branched-chain amino acid high antioxidant (BCAO) supplementation on postexercise protein synthesis and oxidative stress. We hypothesized that supplementing antioxidants with branched- chain amino acids(BCAA) would reduce oxidative stress without hindering muscle protein synthesis. Eigh- teen mixed-breed polo horses (11 mares and 7 geldings, with age range between 5 and 18 years, were on CON diet for 30 days (from day -45 until day 0) and then were assigned to …

Behavior Of Wild Pigs Toward Conspecific Carcasses: Implications For Disease Transmission In A Hot, Semiarid Climate, Samantha Leivers, Tyler Campbell, Michael J. Bodenchuk, John Tomeĉek

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a prolific, invasive species in the United States of America and act as vectors for many pathogens. An emerging pathogen of concern to the USA is African swine fever (ASF), a deadly viral disease affecting swine that is endemic to Africa and has spread to parts of Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. ASF affects both wild and domesticated pigs and can be transmitted via several avenues, including interactions between and consumption of dead pigs by their live conspecifics. As wild pigs are considered a serious threat in the transmission of ASF, understanding the …

Defining County-Level Terrestrial Rabies Freedom Using The Us National Rabies Surveillance System: Surveillance Data Analysis, Amber Kunkel, Gabriella Veytsel, Sarah C. Bonaparte, Haillie Meek, Xiaoyue Ma, Amy J. Davis, Jesse Bonwitt, Ryan M. Wallace

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background: Rabies is a deadly zoonotic disease with nearly 100% fatality rate. In the United States, rabies virus persists in wildlife reservoirs, with occasional spillover into humans and domestic animals. The distribution of reservoir hosts in US counties plays an important role in public health decision-making, including the recommendation of lifesaving postexposure prophylaxis upon suspected rabies exposures. Furthermore, in surveillance data, it is difficult to discern whether counties have no cases reported because rabies was not present or because counties have an unreported rabies presence. These epizootics are monitored by the National Rabies Surveillance System (NRSS), to which approximately 130 …

Land Systems, Soils And Vegetation Of The Southern Goldfields And Great Western Woodlands Of Western Australia - Volume 1, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Paul Galloway

Technical Bulletins

This technical bulletin defines and maps the land resources of the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA). The southern Goldfields region, as featured in this bulletin, covers 151,753 km². The western and eastern borders are variable because they align with various cadastral boundaries. The western survey border, which in part follows the WA State Barrier Fence, demarcates cleared agricultural land from the intact, western extent of the Great Western Woodlands. The eastern border abuts the westernmost Nullarbor pastoral lease boundaries, except for the north-easternmost and south-easternmost edges which continue into Crown land. Major towns are Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie …

Towards Structured Planning And Learning At The State Fisheries Agency Scale, Caleb A. Aldridge

Theses and Dissertations

Inland recreational fisheries has grown philosophically and scientifically to consider economic and sociopolitical aspects (non-biological) in addition to the biological. However, integrating biological and non-biological aspects of inland fisheries has been challenging. Thus, an opportunity exists to develop approaches and tools which operationalize planning and decision-making processes which include biological and non-biological aspects of a fishery. This dissertation expands the idea that a core set of goals and objectives is shared among and within inland fisheries agencies; that many routine operations of inland fisheries managers can be regimented or standardized; and the novel concept that current information and operations can …

Exposure Of Egyptian Rousette Bats (Rousettus Aegyptiacus) And A Little Free-Tailed Bat (Chaerephon Pumilus) To Alphaviruses In Uganda, Rebekah C. Kading, Erin M. Borland, Eric C. Mossel, Teddy Nakayiki, Betty Nalikka, Jeremy P. Ledermann, Mary B. Crabtree, Nicholas A. Panella, Luke Nyakarahuka, Amy T. Gilbert, Julian C. Kerbis-Peterhans, Jonathan S. Towner, Brian R. Amman, Tara K. Sealy, Barry R. Miller, Julius J. Lutwama, Robert M. Kityo, Ann M. Powers

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The reservoir for zoonotic o’nyong-nyong virus (ONNV) has remained unknown since this virus was first recognized in Uganda in 1959. Building on existing evidence for mosquito bloodfeeding on various frugivorous bat species in Uganda, and seroprevalence for arboviruses among bats in Uganda, we sought to assess if serum samples collected from bats in Uganda demonstrated evidence of exposure to ONNV or the closely related zoonotic chikungunya virus (CHIKV). In total, 652 serum samples collected from six bat species were tested by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) for neutralizing antibodies against ONNV and CHIKV. Forty out of 303 (13.2%) Egyptian rousettes …

Aquaculture In Africa: Aquatic Animal Welfare, Impact On The Environment And The Sustainability Of The Sector, Mwenda M. Mbaka, Janice H. Cox, Stephen Ronan

Aquaculture

The African aquaculture sector recorded the fastest growth in the world between 2006-2018, averaging 10% or more, and is expected to partially fill the growing fish supply-demand gap up to 2063. In 2018, there were about 1.2 million aquafarmers across the continent, an increase from 920 thousand in 2014. According to the African Development Bank, expansion of aquaculture in Africa is hampered by "the overwhelming predominance of tilapia farming, which relies heavily on the production of fingerlings from a limited number of genetically improved strains that are resistant to the many diseases affecting this species, and on the production of …

Green On The Map - The Influence Of Conservation Easements On The Naturalness Of Landscapes In The United States, Nakisha Fouch

All Dissertations

Large protected areas have long been the cornerstone of conservation biology, however, in an era branded by the human dominance of ecosystems, regional landscape structure and function are often a consequence of accumulated land-use decisions that may or may not include a nod to conservation planning. With underrepresentation of habitats in publicly protected areas, attention has focused on the function of alternative land conservation mechanisms. Private conservation easements (CEs) have proliferated in the United States, yet assessing landscape-level function is confounded by holder and donor intent, national and regional policy, regional landscape contexts, varying extents, resolution, and temporal scale. Over …

Divergent Serpentoviruses In Free-Ranging Invasive Pythons And Native Colubrids In Southern Florida, United States, Steven B. Tillis, Jillian M. Josimovich, Melissa A. Miller, Laura L. Hoon-Hanks, Arik M. Hartmann, Natalie M. Claunch, Marley E. Iredale, Tracey D. Logan, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Ian A. Bartoszek, John S. Humphrey, Bryan M. Kluever, Mark D. Stenglein, Robert N. Reed, Christina M. Romagosa, James F.X. Wellehan, Robert J. Ossiboff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is an invasive snake that has significantly affected ecosystems in southern Florida, United States. Aside from direct predation and competition, invasive species can also introduce nonnative pathogens that can adversely affect native species. The subfamily Serpentovirinae (order Nidovirales) is composed of positive-sense RNA viruses primarily found in reptiles. Some serpentoviruses, such as shingleback nidovirus, are associated with mortalities in wild populations, while others, including ball python nidovirus and green tree python nidovirus can be a major cause of disease and mortality in captive animals. To determine if serpentoviruses were present in invasive Burmese …

A Novel Vaccine Candidate Against Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus 2 (Rhdv2) Confers Protection In Domestic Rabbits, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Bethany Cominsky, Stephanie Porter, J. Jeffrey Root, Amber Schueler, Gary Anderson, Sara Vanderwal, Andy Benson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

OBJECTIVE To evaluate efficacy of a novel vaccine against rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) in domestic rabbits.

ANIMALS 40 New Zealand White rabbits obtained from a commercial breeder.

PROCEDURES Rabbits were vaccinated and held at the production facility for the duration of the vaccination phase and transferred to Colorado State University for challenge with RHDV2. Rabbits were challenged with oral suspensions containing infectious virus and monitored for clinical disease for up to 10 days. Rabbits that died or were euthanized following infection were necropsied, and livers were evaluated for viral RNA via RT-PCR.

RESULTS None of the vaccinated animals …

A Long-Term Vision For An Ecologically Sound Platte River, Andrew J. Caven, Melissa M. Mosier, Kristal Stoner, Bill Taddicken, Brice Krohn, Ashley Gramza, Craig R. Allen, Mike Carter, Michelle Koch, Kirk D. Schroeder, Sarah Bailey, Rich Walters, Brian C. Chaffin, Erica Gnuse, Amy Jones, Kate Bird

Zea E-Books Collection

The Platte River extends about 310 mi (499 km) from North Platte, Nebraska, to its terminus at the Missouri River confluence near Plattsmouth, Nebraska. The Platte River Valley is a continentally significant ecosystem that serves as a major stopover for migratory waterbirds in the Central Flyway including the endangered Whooping Crane (Grus americana) and >1 million Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis) at the peak of spring migration. However, the Platte River Valley also supports a great diversity of avifauna including grassland breeding birds, native stream fish, vascular plants, herpetofauna, mammals, pollinators, and aquatic macroinvertebrates. Despite ongoing conservation …

2022 Academic Program Review

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus Horridus): A Species Conservation Assessment For The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project, Melissa J. Panella, Dan Fogell, Colleen Rothe-Groleau

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: Publications

The primary goal in the development of at-risk species conservation assessments is to compile biological and ecological information that may assist conservation practitioners in making decisions regarding the conservation of species of interest. The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project recognizes the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) as a Tier 1 at-risk species. Provided here are general management recommendations regarding timber rattlesnakes. Conservation practitioners will need to use their professional judgment for management decisions based on objectives, location, and site-specific conditions. Based on the body of literature and available data, this species conservation assessment provides an overview of our current knowledge of timber …

Seasonal Habitat Selection By American White Pelicans, Frederick L. Cunningham, Guiming Wang, D. Tommy King

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Resource utilization strategies of avian migrants are a major concern for conservation and management. Understanding seasonal habitat selection by migratory birds helps us explain the ongoing continental declines of migratory bird populations. Our objective was to compare the secondorder and third-order habitat selection by the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos; hereafter pelican) between the breeding and non-breeding grounds. We tested the Lack hypothesis that habitat selection by migratory birds is stronger on the breeding grounds than on the nonbreeding grounds. We used random-effect Dirichlet-multinomial models to estimate the second-order habitat selection between the seasons with the GPS locations …

Effects Of Early‑Life Experience On Innovation And Problem‑Solving In Captive Coyotes, Andrew C. Garcia, Mitchell A. Parsons, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Early-life experience often shapes behaviors like innovation and exploration. These behaviors are important to animals encountering novel food resources in diverse habitats, such as mesocarnivores in urban areas. To understand if early-life experiences impact later-life behavior, we examined how coyotes (Canis latrans) responded to a multi-access puzzle box at two life stages: pup (~ 7 weeks) and dispersal (~ 10 months). We first exposed pups, still living with their parents and littermates, to a baited puzzle box. At dispersal age, we again tested both these pups and an age-matched control group that was not exposed to the puzzle …

Full Issue, Frank R. Thompson Iii

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Quail Research: Trends In Themes, Cognitive Extent, And Lexical Diversity, Fidel Hernández

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Language is an interesting characteristic that is unique to humans. Language represents a method of human communication and is believed to reflect a person’s view of reality (Kramsch 2004). The words used by a person or a community provide insight into the ideas, concepts, and worldview held by people (Pennebaker et al. 2003). In science, publications represent a primary form of communication of ideas among scientists. Publications provide a historical record of a discipline and reflect the relative interest of a scientific community in particular concepts during a given era (Kim et al. 2018). Consequently, how word use in publications …

Effects Of Climate Change On Northern Bobwhite Nesting Chronology And Clutch Size, Justin A. Rectenwald, D. Clay Sisson, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Widespread changes to breeding bird phenology in response to climate change have been apparent in North America for several decades. While the impact of an earlier breeding season may be minimal by itself, changes in community-level interactions can be greatly influenced because of varying responses to climate change in different trophic levels. Climate change has been shown to alter the onset of breeding season and chick survival, and lead to population declines for game birds in high latitudes, at high elevations, and on the periphery of their range. The topic of climate change in relation to northern bobwhite (Colinus …

Examining A Habitat-Weather Threshold For Northern Bobwhite Populations In The Southwestern United States, John T. Edwards, Fidel Hernández, Andrea Montalvo, Masahiro Ohnishi

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

In semiarid portions of the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) geographic distribution, weather is a strong driver of interannual abundance. However, the strength of this relationship may depend on habitat amount. Given this habitat–weather dependence, there is likely to be a threshold value for habitat that determines how strongly a bobwhite population responds to weather. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between habitat amount and the relative influence of weather on bobwhite abundance in Texas and Oklahoma, USA and determine a potential land-cover threshold value. We collected bobwhite abundance and land-cover data from the Breeding Bird …

Climate Impacts On North American Quail, Shelby M. Perry, Erin Moser, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

North America’s quail population trends are often linked to regional climate. Extreme climate events such as severe drought, hard freezes, or excessive winter precipitation can reduce quail populations by as much as 84%. Above-average spring and summer temperatures coincident with drought can reduce the laying season for quail by ≤60 days. Exposure of quail eggs to high temperatures during preincubation can initiate and alter embryonic development. Here, we review the impacts of extreme climate events and a changing climate on the survival, reproduction, and population trends of 6 North American quail species: California quail (Callipepla californica), Gambel’s quail …

Northern Bobwhite Response To Control Of Red Imported Fire Ants In The Gulf Coast Prairie Of Texas, Kelly M. Redmond, Eric D. Grahmann, Fidel Hernández, Leonard A. Brennan, Michael E. Morrow, Timothy Anderson

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The population decline of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) on the Texas Gulf Coast Prairie, USA is largely attributed to habitat loss. However, red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) occur throughout the region and are considered a possible contributing factor to the bobwhite decline. The objectives of our study were to determine the influence of red imported fire ants on bobwhites by comparing bobwhite nest success, survival, and density between sites treated with fire ant bait (treatment) and reference (control) sites. Our study was conducted on 3 private ranches in Goliad and Refugio counties, Texas. …

Northern Bobwhite And Fire: A Review And Synthesis, David A. Weber, Evan P. Tanner, Theron M. Terhune Ii, J. Morgan Varner, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Our understanding of the relationship between northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and fire began with Herbert Stoddard’s work in the early 20th century. Research on the topic has continued, but our application of fire is deeply rooted in Stoddard’s work, even as it has become evident that fire regimes must be adapted to variable environmental conditions that are evolving with a changing landscape and climate. A comprehensive review and synthesis of the literature on this topic would help formalize research advancements since Stoddard and identify knowledge gaps for future research. Results from experiments suggest fire creates favorable …

Bobwhite Response To Cattle Grazing In South Texas, Bradley K. Johnston, J. Alfonso Ortega-S., Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Range management practices to improve habitat for wildlife by reducing brush and increasing herbaceous plants, coupled with reduced stocking rates, can lead to dense stands of dominant grasses, such as four-flower trichloris (Trichloris pluriflora). This monoculture of trichloris creates dense vegetation unsuitable for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite), reduces plant species diversity, and alters ecosystem functions. The objectives of this study are to 1) evaluate the effects of a proper cattle grazing regime to improve bobwhite habitat and 2) develop a management guide documenting how cattle grazing can be used as a tool to reduce …