Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Using Prescribed Fire And Biosolids Applications As Grassland Management Tools: Do Wildlife Respond?, Brian E. Washburn, Michael J. Begier

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Prescribed burning is a management tool commonly used in forested ecosystems in the southeastern United States, but the influence of this method on grassland vegetation and wildlife in this geographic region is unknown. During 2009–2015, we conducted a study to determine if the application of prescribed burning and/or long-term biosolid applications alter plant communities and/or wildlife use of grassland areas at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Havelock, North Carolina. We monitored vegetation growth, measured plant community composition, and documented wildlife activity in four study plots for 3 years after the implementation of annual winter prescribed burns. Prescribed burning reduced …

Rapid Point-Of-Care Testing For Detection Of Antibodies To Toxoplasma Gondii In Black Vultures And Ring-Billed Gulls From Pennsylvania, Alexa Rosypal Von Dohlen, Sydney Randall, Jordyan Grays, Mark A. Dugo, Brian J. Hunt, Justin Brown, Kyle Van Why, Sawsan Ammar, Richard Gerhold

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that infects most warm-blooded animals, including birds. Scavenging birds are epidemiologically important hosts because they can serve as indicators of environmental T. gondii levels. A rapid point-of-care (POC) test that detects antibodies to T. gondii in humans is commercially available. In this research, we assessed the ability of the human POC test to detect anti–T. gondii antibodies in 106 black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and 23 ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) from Pennsylvania, USA. Serum samples were tested with the POC test and compared to the modified …

Low Secondary Risks For Turkey Vultures From A Sodium Nitrite Toxic Bait For Wild Pigs, Justin A. Foster, John C. Kinsey, Michael J. Lavelle, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Nathan P. Snow

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

An acute and orally‐delivered toxic bait for wild pigs (Sus scrofa) containing sodium nitrite (SN) is being developed and tested for potential registration in the U.S. We evaluated oral toxicity of SN and risk of secondary consumption in a common avian scavenger, the turkey vulture (Carthartes aura), by 1) conducting an acute oral toxicity test (LD₅₀) for turkey vultures by oral gavage, and 2) allowing turkey vultures to feed on whole carcasses and digestive tracts of wild pigs that died from consuming SN‐laden bait. Captive tests were conducted during fall 2016 and spring 2017 in the …

A Method For Characterizing Disease Emergence Curves From Paired Pathogen Detection And Serology Data, Joshua Hewitt, Grete Wilson-Henjum, Derek T. Collins, Jourdan M. Ringenberg, Christopher A. Quintanal, Robert Pleszewski, Jeffrey C. Chandler, Thomas J. Deliberto, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Wildlife disease surveillance programs and research studies track infection and identify risk factors for wild populations, humans and agriculture. Often, several types of samples are collected from individuals to provide more complete information about an animal's infection history. Methods that jointly analyse multiple data streams to study disease emergence and drivers of infection via epidemiological process models remain underdeveloped. Joint-analysis methods can more thoroughly analyse all available data, more precisely quantifying epidemic processes, outbreak status, and risks.

2. We contribute a paired data modelling approach that analyses multiple samples from individuals. We use ‘characterization maps’ to link paired data …

Torque Teno Sus Virus 1: A Potential Surrogate Pathogen To Study Pig-Transmitted Transboundary Animal Diseases, Xiaolong Li, Brandon M. Parker, Raoul K. Boughton, James C. Beasley, Timothy J. Smyser, James D. Austin, Kim M. Pepin, Ryan S. Miller, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Samantha M. Wisely

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Understanding the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of transboundary animal diseases (TADs) among wild pigs (Sus scrofa) will aid in preventing the introduction or containment of TADs among wild populations. Given the challenges associated with studying TADs in free-ranging populations, a surrogate pathogen system may predict how pathogens may circulate and be maintained within wild free-ranging swine populations, how they may spill over into domestic populations, and how management actions may impact transmission. We assessed the suitability of Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1) to serve as a surrogate pathogen for molecular epidemiological studies in wild pigs by investigating …

Common Grackle (Quiscalus Quiscula) Predation Of A Great Lakes Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus) Nest And Its Conservation Implications, Jade R. Arneson, Dennis A. Peloquin, Thomas G. Prestby, Sarah P. Saunders

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) was observed consuming eggs from an exclosed (protected) Great Lakes piping plover (Charadrius melodus) nest in the lower bay of Green Bay, Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, USA during June 2023. The observation, captured by a trail camera, is the first photographic documentation of grackle predation in any of the three piping plover breeding populations. This behavior adds common grackle to the suite of egg predators and has critical implications for this shorebird species, particularly in the Great Lakes region where piping plover is listed as federally endangered and common grackles are relatively …

Assessment Of Avian Community Structure And Habitat Connectivity In The Fanno Creek Corridor Bird Surveys, Habitat Assessment, And Management Recommendations, Grace Hall

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Urbanization can significantly impact habitat quality and connectivity for avian communities, decreasing species richness and diversity. However, in highly fragmented habitats, urban parks and riparian zones can provide important habitat corridors for birds that facilitate movement and access to essential resources. On the west side of greater Portland, Oregon, Fanno Creek may serve as a habitat corridor for birds and other local wildlife.

Fanno Creek is a 25-kilometer tributary of the Tualatin River that runs through the cities of Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, and Durham in northwestern Oregon. The land surrounding the creek includes residential, commercial, and industrial properties as well …

Flowering Rush (Butomus Umbellatus) Id Guide For The Columbia River, Gabriel Campbell, Jacob Rose

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

This is a picture based field guide for how to identify Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus) in the Columbia River throughout Oregon and Washington. It includes how to tell this species from commonly co-occurring look-alike species.

Three Essays On Energy Related To State Policies And Low Carbon Transitions, Pinky Thomas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation consists of three essays on energy-related state policies and energy transition. Each paragraph below refers to the three abstracts for the three chapters in this dissertation, respectively.

The first essay is entitled: “Impacts of State Tax and Resource Ownership Policies on Extraction: Evidence from U.S. Natural Gas Production”. The innovation of combined use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies during the 2000s has allowed natural gas producers in the United States to extract natural gas and liquids from deep shale formations in a cost-efficient manner. This essay evaluates whether unconventional gas production responds to tax changes, and …

Natural Selection On Feralization Genes Contributed To The Invasive Spread Of Wild Pigs Throughout The United States, Niek W. G. Barmentlo, Patrick G. Meirmans, William H. Stiver, Joseph G. Yarkovich, Blake E. Mccann, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Dominic Wright, Timothy J. Smyser, Mirte Bosse

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Despite a long presence in the contiguous United States (US), the distribution of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa × domesticus) has expanded rapidly since the 1980s, suggesting a more recent evolutionary shift towards greater invasiveness. Contemporary populations of wild pigs represent exoferal hybrid descendants of domestic pigs and European wild boar, with such hybridization expected to enrich genetic diversity and increase the adaptive potential of populations. Our objective was to characterize how genetic enrichment through hybridization increases the invasiveness of populations by identifying signals of selection and the ancestral origins of selected loci. Our study focused on invasive …

Influence Of Habitat And Baiting Strategy On Oral Rabies Vaccine Bait Uptake By Raccoons In The Southeastern United States, Jacob E. Hill, Madison L. Miller, Richard B. Chipman, Amy T. Gilbert, James C. Beasley, Guha Dharmarajan, Olin E. Rhodea

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

terrestrial wildlife species. However, there is currently a limited understanding of how different baiting strategies influence raccoon (Procyon lotor) uptake of ORV baits in non-agricultural habitats in the Southeastern United States, which may hinder the refinement of ORV management for raccoons in this region. Using a combination of new and existing data, we investigated the role of baited area (0.16 vs 3 km²), bait density (75 versus 150 baits/km²) and season (spring versus fall) on placebo ORV bait uptake by raccoons in four rural, non-agricultural habitats in the southeastern United States (bottomland hardwood forest, …

Prevalence Of Avian Influenza Virus In Atypical Wild Birds Host Groups During An Outbreak Of Highly Pathogenic Strain Ea/Am H5n1, Jourdan M. Ringenberg, Kelsey Weir, Lee Humberg, Carl Voglewede, Mitch Oswald, J. Jeffrey Root, Krista Dilione, Even Casey, Michael Milleson, Timothy Linder, Juliann Lenoch

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The global outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b virus that was detected in North America in 2021 is the largest in history and has significantly impacted wild bird populations and domestic poultry across the continent. Synanthropic birds may play an important role in transmitting the virus laterally to other wild bird species and domestic poultry. Understanding the dynamics of HPAI in atypical, or nonreservoir, wild bird hosts may help inform management decisions and potential risk factors to both wild and domestic bird populations. Following the confirmation of infections of HPAI H5N1 in domestic …

Evaluation Of Mitigation Translocation As A Management Tool To Reduce Conflicts Between Humans And American Kestrels, Brian E. Washburn

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raptor‐aircraft collisions (bird strikes) pose a serious safety risk to civil aircraft. Even smaller raptors, such as American kestrels (Falco sparverius), can be problematic within airport environments. Given widespread declines in kestrel populations, public interest, logistical and financial constraints, and other factors, managing kestrels at airports presents some unique challenges. I conducted a study to determine which biological (e.g., age and sex of the bird) and logistical factors (e.g., month and translocation distance) might influence the return of American kestrels live‐captured and translocated from 42 civil airports and military airbases within the contiguous USA during 2016–2021. American kestrels …

Discovery Of A Novel Invasive Rodent Species On Wake Atoll With A Desert Southwest Usa Origin, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Eric Lanners, Daniel R. Taylor, Aaron B. Shiels, Marjorie Matocq, John Eisemann

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive species, particularly omnivorous rodents, have damaged island ecosystems around the world. The unique flora and fauna of island systems have typically not evolved with omnivorous rodents and are heavily impacted by their introduction. Wake Atoll of the southern Pacific Ocean is a 707-hectare coral island complex of three islands managed by the United States Department of Defense (DoD). DoD restricts civilian access to the atoll but aircraft and seacraft regularly visit the island to transport military equipment and to sustain the year-round military and contractor personnel stationed on the atoll. Wake Atoll had been invaded by Rattus rattus complex …

Agricultural And Ecological Resources Safeguarded By The Prevention Of Wild Pig Population Expansion, Colin Jareb, Kim M. Pepin, Ryan S. Miller, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Sophie C. Mckee

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are one of the most destructive invasive species in the United States, known for causing extensive damage to agricultural commodities, natural resources, and property, and for transmitting diseases to livestock. Following the establishment of the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program (NFSDMP) in 2014, the expansion of wild pig populations has been successfully slowed. This paper combines two modeling approaches across eight separate models to characterize the expansion of wild pig populations in the absence of intervention by the NFSDMP and forecasts the value of a subset of resources safeguarded from the threat of …

Oral Rabies Vaccination Of Raccoons (Procyon Lotor) Across A Development Intensity Gradient In Burlington, Vermont, Usa, 2015–2017, Emily M. Beasley, Kathleen M. Nelson, Dennis Slate, Amy T. Gilbert, Frederick E. Pogmore, Richard B. Chipman, Amy J. Davis

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Management of the raccoon rabies virus variant in North America is conducted primarily using oral rabies vaccination (ORV). When a sufficient proportion of the population is vaccinated (60%), rabies transmission can be eliminated. To date, ORV programs have successfully controlled and eliminated raccoon rabies in rural areas, but there has been less success in urban areas. We studied the proportions of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) in a raccoon (Procyon lotor) population during a 3-year ORV trial in developed areas of Burlington, Vermont, United States. We used a modified N-mixture model to estimate raccoon abundance, RVNA seroprevalence, and …

Estimating Landscape Spread Of A Low-Prevalence Disease Using Multiple Surveillance Methods, Abigail Feuka, Aakash Pandey, Melinda Cosgrove, Megan Moriarty, Anthony Duffiney, Henry Campa Iii, Kurt C. Vercuteren, Kimberly M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Diseases occurring at low prevalence in free-ranging wildlife can be difficult to study and predict at a landscape scale. This problem is compounded by imperfect pathogen detection.

2. We used data from multiple surveillance methods to determine factors influencing spread of a low-prevalence disease, bovine tuberculosis (bTB), among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a bTB endemic area over a 10-year period. We fit dynamic occupancy models to predict spatial spread of bTB through a county in Michigan, USA, within the bTB endemic area, while accounting for imperfect detection and a suite of ecological processes potentially driving bTB …

Effects Of The Immunocontraceptive Gonacon On Pregnancy In Brucella-Seropositive American Bison (Bison Bison), Rebecca K. Frey, Morgan E. Wehtje, Pauline Nol, Patrick R. Clarke, Jack C. Rhyan, Matthew P. Mccollum, Lowell A. Miller, Douglas C. Eckery

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine if the number of pregnancies in naturally infected Brucella abortus-positive bison (Bison bison) cows would be reduced over a period of 5 yr after one treatment with 3000 mg gonadotropin-releasing hormone immunocontraceptive (GonaCon) compared to a similar group of naturally infected B. abortus-positive bison cows not treated with GonaCon. In each of the 5 yr, GonaCon-treated cows produced fewer offspring in relation to number of cows than the nontreated cows. Fisher’s Exact test comparing offspring produced during the first reproductive season showed a significant difference between the …

Steps Towards Operationalizing One Health Approaches, Kim M. Pepin, Keith M. Carlisle, Dean Anderson, Michael G. Baker, Richard B. Chipman, Jackie Benschop, Nigel P. French, Suzie Greenhalgh, Scott Mcdougall, Petra Muellner, Emil Murphy, Dion R. J. Neale, Michael J. Plank, David T. S. Hayman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

One Health recognizes the health of humans, agriculture, wildlife, and the environment are interrelated. The concept has been embraced by international health and environmental authorities such as WHO, WOAH, FAO, and UNEP, but One Health approaches have been more practiced by researchers than national or international authorities. To identify priorities for operationalizing One Health beyond research contexts, we conducted 41 semi-structured interviews with professionals across One Health sectors (public health, environment, agriculture, wildlife) and institutional contexts, who focus on national-scale and international applications. We identify important challenges, solutions, and priorities for delivering the One Health agenda through government action. Participants …

Changing Fire Regimes And Nuanced Impacts On A Critically Imperiled Species, Jeremy T. Rockweit, Katie M. Dugger, Damon B. Lesmeister, Raymond J. Davis, Alan B. Franklin, J. Mark Higley

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildfire activity throughout western North America is increasing which can have important consequences for species persistence. Native species have evolved disturbance-adapted traits that confer resilience to natural disturbance provided disturbances operate within their historical range of variability. This resilience can erode as disturbance regimes change and begin operating outside this range. We assessed wildfire impacts during 1987–2018 on the northern spotted owl, an imperiled species with complex relationships with late and early seral forest in the Pacific Northwest, USA. We analyzed population- and individual-level wildfire impacts across the frequent-fire portion of the owl’s geographic range at two spatial scales and …