Cutaneous Microbiome Of Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes) Infected With Sarcoptic Mange (Sarcoptes Scabiei),
2023
University of New Hampshire, Durham
Cutaneous Microbiome Of Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes) Infected With Sarcoptic Mange (Sarcoptes Scabiei), Jacqueline C. Robidoux
Honors Theses and Capstones
Sarcoptic mange is a parasitic skin disease that affects countless mammals worldwide, including red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). The symptoms, such as hair loss, crusting, and the number of mites, vary between individual foxes. Sarcoptic mange damages the skin barrier, which in turn disrupts the biodiversity of bacteria in the microbiome. It is unknown what the biodiversity of bacteria is at each stage of the disease. This experiment will compare the microbiomes of different samples with and without mange; in hopes to reveal a connection between the different severities of sarcoptic mange and the biodiversity of bacteria and fungi …
Evaluation Of Roost Culling As A Management Strategy For Reducing Invasive Rose‑Ringed Parakeet (Psittacula Krameri) Populations,
2023
Texas A&M University–Kingsville
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,
2023
Utah State University
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,
2023
University of Georgia
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,
2023
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
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,
2023
Colorado State University
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,
2023
Texas A&M University
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,
2023
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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 …
An Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance Platform For The 21st Century,
2022
VectorAnalytica, Miami, Florida, USA
An Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance Platform For The 21st Century, Eloy Ortiz, Alicia Juarrero
MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity
Current vector surveillance programs are insufficient for coping with the emerging infectious disease crisis. In particular, current practices do not deploy sufficient information technology (IT) tools to generate actionable insights that can inform interventions and contain and mitigate the spread of vector-borne diseases. VectorAnalytica has developed a highly configurable and adaptable IT platform that imports, harmonizes, and integrates a range of data sources. The state-of-the-art backend development allows users to fully appreciate and understand the complexity of infectious disease dynamics without having to resort to additional statistical and GIS software packages. The platform yields actionable insights into outbreak patterns of …
Let Emerging Plant Diseases Be Predictable,
2022
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Let Emerging Plant Diseases Be Predictable, Valeria Trivellone
MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity
A prevalent concept for colonization and evolution among plant pathogens and their hosts stems from a post-Darwinian paradigm rooted in the formalized assumption of “specialized parasitism.” Seminal studies on rust fungi of socioeconomic importance integrated such an evolutionary perspective driven by the assumption of strict coevolution among pathogens and their plant hosts. Following this fundamentally unfalsifiable assumption, theories regarding host-switching for parasites were dismissed. If colonization occurred, this process would depend upon the origin of specific and novel mutations that allow infections of previously unexploited hosts or host groups, the acquisition of a broader host range. After a specific mutation …
Taking Action: Turning Evolutionary Theory Into Preventive Policies,
2022
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Vienna
Taking Action: Turning Evolutionary Theory Into Preventive Policies, Orsolya Molnár, Marina Knickel, Christine Marizzi
MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity
The emerging infectious disease (EID) crisis has been challenging global health security for decades, dealing substantial damage to all socioeconomic landscapes. Control measures have failed to prevent or even mitigate damages from an accelerating wave of EIDs, leading to the emergence and devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of the pandemic, we must critically review our public health policies and approaches. Current health security measures are based on the evolutionary theorem of host-parasite coevolution, which falsely deems EIDs as rare and unpredictable. The DAMA protocol (Document, Assess, Monitor, Act) is nested in a novel evolutionary framework that …
A Report Of Intraguild Predation By Orthochirus Sp. On Hottentotta Tamulus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In Maharashtra, India,
2022
Marshall University
A Report Of Intraguild Predation By Orthochirus Sp. On Hottentotta Tamulus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In Maharashtra, India, Mihir Joshi, Shubhankar Deshpande
Euscorpius
We report an event of intraguild predation by Orthochirus sp. feeding on a juvenile individual of Hottentotta tamulus (Fabricius,1798) from Maharashtra, India. This is the first report of intraguild predation among Indian scorpions.
The Genus Barbaracurus In Saudi Arabia (Scorpiones: Buthidae), With Description Of A New Species,
2022
Marshall University
The Genus Barbaracurus In Saudi Arabia (Scorpiones: Buthidae), With Description Of A New Species, František Kovařík, Graeme Lowe, František Šťáhlavský, Pavel Just
Euscorpius
The genus Barbaracurus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) is recorded for the first time from Saudi Arabia. B. yemenensis Kovařík et al., 2018 was found in the extreme southwest of the country, near its border with Yemen. The diagnosis of the species is emended based on the finding of adult males and a large adult female. The proximal margins of the pedipalp fingers of male B. yemenensis are strongly undulate, leaving a gap with the fingers closed. This character differentiates it from all other species of Barbaracurus in the Arabian Peninsula. A second species, B. kabateki sp. n. from Saudi Arabia is described …
The Stockholm Paradigm Explains The Dynamics Of Darwin’S Entangled Bank, Including Emerging Infectious Disease,
2022
Virginia Commonwealth University
The Stockholm Paradigm Explains The Dynamics Of Darwin’S Entangled Bank, Including Emerging Infectious Disease, Salvatore J. Agosta
MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity
Pathogens and their hosts are embedded within the larger biosphere, what Darwin called the “entangled bank.” Emerging infectious disease occurs when a parasite “switches” to a new host. Understanding the dynamics of emerging disease requires understanding the dynamics of host-switching, which requires a more general understanding of how the biosphere and its constituent members cope when conditions change. The Stockholm paradigm is an integrative evolutionary framework that describes how living systems cope with change by oscillating between exploiting and exploring the geographical and functional dimensions of their environments. It combines organismal capacity, ecological opportunity, and the repeated external perturbations to …
Knowing The Biosphere: Documentation, Specimens, Archives, And Names Reveal Environmental Change And Emerging Pathogens,
2022
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Knowing The Biosphere: Documentation, Specimens, Archives, And Names Reveal Environmental Change And Emerging Pathogens, Eric P. Hoberg, Valeria Trivellone, Joseph A. Cook, Jonathan L. Dunnum, Walter A. Boeger, Daniel R. Brooks, Salvatore J. Agosta, Jocelyn P. Colella
MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity
One Health programs and trajectories are now the apparent standard for exploring the occurrence and distribution of emerging pathogens and disease. By definition, One Health has been characterized as a broadly inclusive, collaborative, and transdisciplinary approach with connectivity across local to global scales, which integrates the medical and veterinary community to recognize health outcomes emerging at the environmental nexus for people, animals, plants, and their shared landscapes. One Health has been an incomplete model, conceptually and operationally, focused on reactive and response-based foundations, to limit the impact of emerging pathogens and emerging infectious diseases and, as such, lacks a powerful …
The Evolutionary Dynamics Of Infectious Diseases On An Unstable Planet: Insights From Modeling The Stockholm Paradigm,
2022
Universidade Federal do Paraná
The Evolutionary Dynamics Of Infectious Diseases On An Unstable Planet: Insights From Modeling The Stockholm Paradigm, Angie T. C. Souza, Sabrina B. L. Araujo, Walter A. Boeger
MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity
Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are, besides a question of food safety and public health, an ecological and evolutionary issue. The recognition of this condition combined with the accumulation of evidence that pathogens are not specialists in their original hosts evidences the need for understanding how the dynamics of interaction between pathogens and hosts occurs. The Stockholm Paradigm (SP) provides the theoretical fundaments to understand the dynamics of diseases and design proactive measures to avoid the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases. In this review, we revisit the models that evaluate several aspects of the proposed dynamics of the SP, including …
Influence Of Environmental Factors On Surface Activity Of Paruroctonus Marksi (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae) In The Mojave Desert,
2022
Marshall University
Influence Of Environmental Factors On Surface Activity Of Paruroctonus Marksi (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae) In The Mojave Desert, Zia Nisani, Destiny Frederick, Alejandro Garcia-Plascencia, Daian Lopez, Robert Miller, Linhsan Trinh-Nguyen
Euscorpius
Many environmental factors may influence the activity pattern of scorpions in arid ecosystems. We investigated the seasonal variations of Paruroctonus marksi scorpion activity in the Mojave Desert (California, USA). Black light surveys were carried out within two 100 ×100 m plots from August 2017 to September 2018. The majority (85%) of scorpions were found in open areas compared with being in vegetation. The presence of P. marksi was positively correlated with both water vapor pressure and soil temperature, while moon illumination had no significant effect on P. marksi foraging behavior. Scorpions might be using humidity as an indicator of prey …
Common Snook, Centropomus Undecimalis Neurocranium,
2022
Nova Southeastern University
Common Snook, Centropomus Undecimalis Neurocranium, Olivia Cantalupo, Madelyn Vieth, David Kerstetter
All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series
Neurocranium from Common Snook, Centropomus undecimalis.
Vegetation And Nutritional Changes Over 20 Years Of White-Tailed Deer Exclusion,
2022
Mississippi State University
Vegetation And Nutritional Changes Over 20 Years Of White-Tailed Deer Exclusion, Gabrielle Nicole Ripa
Theses and Dissertations
Knowledge of the impacts of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; hereafter deer) as dominant herbivores throughout the Southeastern United States of America is lacking. To address this, three paired experimental units of exclosures and controls were constructed in 2000 on three Wildlife Management Areas across Mississippi within the ecoregions of the Upper Coastal Plain, Lower Coastal Plain, and the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Vegetation was sampled in the summers of 2000, 2005, and 2021 including vegetation structure, canopy coverage, basal area, and species composition. Additionally, in 2005 and 2021, biomass was sampled to determine potential impacts on nutritional carrying capacity. Among the …
A Subspecies-Level Database Of Amazonian Bird Distributions, With Inferences On Suture Zones And Conservation,
2022
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
A Subspecies-Level Database Of Amazonian Bird Distributions, With Inferences On Suture Zones And Conservation, Marco Antonio Rego
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Amazonia has the largest and most biodiverse tropical forest on the planet. However, the distributions of its species are still poorly understood, even for well-studied vertebrates such as birds. Available distribution maps for Amazonian birds often lack accuracy in delimiting the area where species occur. Existing distributional information for Amazonian birds is often limited to species-level level taxonomy, even though many Amazonian bird subspecies represent biological species. Here, I investigate the geographic distributions of 4,148 bird taxa (species and subspecies) using museum scientific specimens as the primary source of data. To build the data base I use more than 600,000 …
