EHD in Maryland

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) was reported in white-tailed deer in Maryland last week, but it seems likely that the outbreak will be short-lived. Biting midges, or no-see-ums, transmit the disease-causing virus, and outbreaks generally end with a hard frost.

Western Maryland, where the two cases of EHD were reported, received about six inches of snow this weekend. That should end the biting midges’ party for the season.

Read the article on the outbreak in the Hagerstown Herald-Mail.

I couldn’t find a Maryland Department of Natural Resources press release on the outbreak, but the department does have an EHD fact sheet on-line.

As the Herald-Mail article mentions, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a much bigger concern than EHD in this southern-ish state. Here’s our post on CWD in Maryland.

Also, read this previous post on EHD for links to more information on the disease.

Photo: A healthy white-tailed deer. Credit: Ryan Hagerty, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Geomyces Locked In As White Nose Cause

A paper published on-line in the journal Nature on Wednesday dotted the scientific i’s and crossed the t’s on Geomyces destructans being the cause of white nose syndrome. Other experiments, and early news on this one, had established that white nose syndrome is caused by the fungus, but this is the official word.

During the conference call announcing the paper, several of the scientists said that the study was designed to satisfy Koch’s postulates, a term more familiar to medical researchers than wildlife researchers. The postulates map out a series of experiments that prove (or disprove) that an organism causes a disease.

Most of the time, researchers being forced to dance to Nature’s tune (or the tune of any other major scientific journal) is just part of the game of research science. This case, though, points out the inherent flaws in the system. White nose researchers have been starved for funding. Wildlife managers have been desperate for information. And while we can only hope that no wildlife manager was waiting around for confirmation from a peer-reviewed paper before taking action on white nose syndrome, I wonder if an earlier publication of this paper might have shaken a few extra pennies out of Congress’s pocket.

Read the abstract in Nature, or the whole article with a subscription or fee.

The findings are summarized in a brief article from Science News.

Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Geomyces Locked In As White Nose Cause

A paper published on-line in the journal Nature on Wednesday dotted the scientific i’s and crossed the t’s on Geomyces destructans being the cause of white nose syndrome. Other experiments, and early news on this one, had established that white nose syndrome is caused by the fungus, but this is the official word.

During the conference call announcing the paper, several of the scientists said that the study was designed to satisfy Koch’s postulates, a term more familiar to medical researchers than wildlife researchers. The postulates map out a series of experiments that prove (or disprove) that an organism causes a disease.

Most of the time, researchers being forced to dance to Nature’s tune (or the tune of any other major scientific journal) is just part of the game of research science. This case, though, points out the inherent flaws in the system. White nose researchers have been starved for funding. Wildlife managers have been desperate for information. And while we can only hope that no wildlife manager was waiting around for confirmation from a peer-reviewed paper before taking action on white nose syndrome, I wonder if an earlier publication of this paper might have shaken a few extra pennies out of Congress’s pocket.

Read the abstract in Nature, or the whole article with a subscription or fee.

The findings are summarized in a brief article from Science News.

Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service

CWD in Missouri, Again

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found in captive white-tailed deer in Macon County, Missouri last week. In 2010, another captive deer operation in Linn County, Missouri, run by the same group, was found to have CWD. Those deer were all killed and no deer at the facility have tested positive for CWD since.

The state’s CWD contingency plan, announced in 2003, has been activated in response to the recent discovery.

I was surprised not to find a press release about this from the Missouri Department of Conservation on its site, but here’s the press release from the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Most of the coverage I’ve seen so far merely reprints that press release.

For sample response plans, see this list of CWD policy resources from the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance.

Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia have response plans on the list, but not Missouri. The top of the page has national and federal resources, so scroll down for state policies.

Wondering where CWD is now? Here’s a map from the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance.

Photo: This white-tailed deer in Wisconsin has CWD. Photo Credit: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Diversity Reduces Disease Risk in Plants Too

High species diversity is believed to reduce the spread of disease because some species are more susceptible to the disease than others. But what if it’s a disease that all the species get? And what if the species are plants?

A study published in the current issue of Ecology Letters found that the principle of disease dissolution still applied. The disease spread more slowly in more species-rich forests, perhaps because the different species, while all susceptible, had different levels of susceptibility and transmitted the disease at different rates.

Read the article here.

Read a little blurb about the research from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, here.

Ashe: Exotics Are the States’ Job

The recent incident in Ohio, where a man released many of his exotic animal pets (including large carnivores) and then shot himself, will not lead to any changes in federal regulations of exotics, said Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at an informal talk at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Miami last week.

“Exotic pets will continue to be regulated by the states,” Ashe said. He added that the states have traditionally played the lead role in regulating exotic pets, and that they should continue to fill that role.

You certainly know your own state’s regulations, but do you know how they compare to the regulations in other states?

According to Born Free USA, West Virginia and Wyoming have no regulations on possessing exotic animals. States with some regulation, but without a license or permit requirement include Alabama, Idaho and South Carolina. In Ohio, the site says, “No person may bring into the state a non-domestic animal unless the possessor: obtains an entry permit; health certificate certifying the animal is free of infectious diseases; and a certificate of veterinary inspection. Persons in the state possessing non-domestic animals do not need to obtain a permit.”

For more information on what the requirements in those states are, see the state by state listing at Born Free USA Web site.

Photo: Dan Ashe at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference. State Wildlife Research News. Click here for terms of use.

More Drought Impacts

The drought in Texas is so severe this year that it appears to be reducing reproductive success in animals ranging from deer to quail. This National Public Radio story discusses the results of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife surveys. Antelope in one area of the state may be especially hard hit, the story says, because they have been afflicted with a parasite that was already reducing their reproduction and survival.

In a press release, the department urges hunters to hunt early this season, so there will be more food later in the season for surviving deer.

A story that ran in AgWeek in August points out that Texas is so big that the impacts of its drought may be felt in other states. Not only does it share ecosystems with its neighboring states, but it is such an important migration route for birds, that hard times in Texas may have ripple effects all over the Americas in the bird populations that use the central flyway. Read more here.

Artificial Nest Sites for Wood Turtles

Scientists built an artificial nesting mound for wood turtles in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey when development and invasive plants made the original site less viable. A paper in the journal Northeastern Naturalist describes the successful transfer of nesting turtles from one site to the other. The mound has produced 142 nestling wood turtles in four years.

But more important than describing the success, the paper gives an idea what was required to produce it. The artificial mound was just 100 meters from the old mound. Nest-bound females were fetched from the old site and hand-carried to the new site. While one turtle returned to the artificial mound for the next three years, several others were brought back from the old site in another year.

Read the whole article, subscription or fee required.

Photo: cliff1066(TM) via Flickr

Parks, Trails and Wildlife

We generally think of any wildlife population inside of a national park as being safe from human disturbance. That, however, is not quite true, according to a study published in the journal Ecology and Society last month.

The study, which used data from three Canadian national parks, Banff, Kootenay and Yoho, found that when hiker traffic increased on a trail, both wolves and elk avoided the area. In areas where hiker traffic was less than two people per hour, elk made themselves at home, while wolves stayed away, creating a predator-free refuge for the elk.

There was a brief story in the Toronto Globe and Mail. The Sierra Club blog summarizes the research along with other, similar findings. And there is a press release in ScienceDaily.

But read the paper itself in Ecology and Society. The devil is in the details, and the details weren’t necessarily parsed in the news stories. How these findings will apply to trails and parks in your state likely depends on a lot of things — from ecosystem type to the level of development around the park to average level of hiker traffic — and particularly to increases in the numbers of hikers.

Photo: This trail is in a US National Wildlife Refuge. Courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Hot Weather and Urban Deer Hunters

When the temperature approaches the 80s, do deer hunters stay home? A recent press release from the Missouri Department of Conservation shows that fewer deer were killed during urban deer hunts in years when the weather is warm than in years with more seasonable temperatures.

Similar trends are seen during regular hunting seasons, but the result is more acute during urban hunts, because they may only last a day or a few days.

The nicest thing about this press release is that it offers a few years of data, with the number of deer killed and the temperature. Add it to or compare it with your own data from urban hunts for some possible insight. Read more here.

If you are interested in urban deer, don’t miss the current issue of The Wildlife Society Bulletin, which focuses on urban deer. Articles include contraceptive use, the influence of roads and various controlled hunt issues. Read more here. (Fee or subscription required.)

Photo: courtesy of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources