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At least 937 records · Page 52Linked to original sources
USGS2022

Movement of white‐tailed deer in contrasting landscapes influences management of chronic wasting disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to expand in distribution and prevalence across North America. Upon detection, either for the first time in a novel area or in a region with an existing outbreak, wildlife management agencies are tasked with responding to mitigate the disease. This response often entails creation or modification of a management zone with modified rules and regulations that support an agency's disease management plan. To guide the process of creating an appropriately sized CWD management zone, assuming that wild deer movements are a major risk factor for disease spread, we used data from global positioning system (GPS)-collared white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) in southeastern Minnesota and southcentral Pennsylvania, USA, between 2018 and 2021 to estimate long-distance movements associated with dispersal and migratory behaviors. These contrasting study areas with active CWD outbreaks permitted an evaluation of deer movement dynamics in different parts of their range. We quantified the proportion, distribution, timing, and orientation of dispersing and migratory deer. We observed 21% of female and 58% of male yearlings disperse from their apparent natal home range in Minnesota, while in Pennsylvania 4% of female and 68% of male yearlings dispersed. We also documented 20% of females and 6% of males migrated between seasonal home ranges in Minnesota, while in Pennsylvania no females and 5% of males migrated. The average distance deer dispersed or migrated in Minnesota was 20 km and 11 km, respectively, while in Pennsylvania male deer dispersed only about 4 km. Both sexes in Minnesota tended to disperse in a consistent, westerly direction; however, there was no directional preference observed for migratory deer or for dispersing deer in Pennsylvania. We found differences between natal and adult home range size for both sexes in Minnesota but not for males in Pennsylvania. Our results identify the considerable variability in dispersal and migration dynamics of white-tailed deer in disparate landscapes, which is important to agencies managing CWD. We summarize the distribution of these movements and suggest agencies use this information to help make decisions about optimal management zone size. We suggest the development of formalized assessments of the tradeoffs associated with optimizing decisions about creation of CWD management zones across white-tailed deer populations that exhibit variation in dispersal behavior and suggest careful evaluation to avoid using an arbitrary size or shape to create disease management zones.

Minnesota, Pennsylvania↗
USGS2017

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans and the risk of a second amphibian pandemic

Amphibians are experiencing devastating population declines globally. A major driver is chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease caused by the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ( Bsal ). Bd was described in 1999 and has been linked with declines since the 1970s, while Bsal is a more recently discovered pathogen that was described in 2013. It is hypothesized that Bsal originated in Asia and spread via international trade to Europe, where it has been linked to salamander die-offs. Trade in live amphibians thus represents a significant threat to global biodiversity in amphibians. We review the current state of knowledge regarding Bsal and describe the risk of Bsal spread. We discuss regional responses to Bsal and barriers that impede a rapid, coordinated global effort. The discovery of a second deadly emerging chytrid fungal pathogen in amphibians poses an opportunity for scientists, conservationists, and governments to improve global biosecurity and further protect humans and wildlife from a growing number of emerging infectious diseases.

EcoHealth↗
USGS2022

Avian influenza antibody prevalence increases with mercury contamination in wild waterfowl

Environmental contamination is widespread and can negatively impact wildlife health. Some contaminants, including heavy metals, have immunosuppressive effects, but prior studies have rarely measured contamination and disease simultaneously, which limits our understanding of how contaminants and pathogens interact to influence wildlife health. Here, we measured mercury concentrations, influenza infection, influenza antibodies, and body condition in 749 individuals from 11 species of wild ducks overwintering in California. We found that the odds of prior influenza infection increased more than five-fold across the observed range of blood mercury concentrations, while accounting for species, age, sex, and date. The prevalence of influenza infection was also higher in species with higher average mercury concentrations. We detected no relationship between influenza infection and body fat content. This positive relationship between influenza prevalence and mercury concentrations in migratory waterfowl suggests that immunotoxic effects of mercury contamination could promote the spread of avian influenza along migratory flyways, especially if influenza has minimal effects on bird health and mobility. More generally, these results show that the effects of environmental contamination could extend beyond the geographic area of contamination itself by altering the prevalence of infectious diseases in highly mobile hosts.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B↗
USGS2015

The Penobscot River and environmental contaminants: Assessment of tribal exposure through sustenance lifeways

EPA in collaboration with the Penobscot Indian Nation, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) collectively embarked on a four year research study to evaluate the environmental health of the riverine system by targeting specific cultural practices and using traditional science to conduct a preliminary contaminant screening of the flora and fauna of the Penobscot River ecosystem. This study was designed as a preliminary screening to determine if contaminant concentrations in fish, eel, snapping turtle, wood ducks, and plants in Regions of the Penobscot River relevant to where PIN tribal members hunt, fish and gather plants were high enough to be a health concern. This study was not designed to be a statistically validated assessment of contaminant differences among study sites or among species. The traditional methodology for health risk assessment used by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is based on the use of exposure assumptions (e.g. exposure duration, food ingestion rate, body weight, etc.) that represent the entire American population, either as a central tendency exposure (e.g. average, median) or as a reasonable maximum exposure (e.g. 95% upper confidence limit). Unfortunately, EPA lacked exposure information for assessing health risks for New England regional tribes sustaining a tribal subsistence way of life. As a riverine tribe, the Penobscot culture and traditions are inextricably tied to the Penobscot River watershed. It is through hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering and making baskets, pottery, moccasins, birch-bark canoes and other traditional practices that the Penobscot culture and people are sustained. The Penobscot River receives a variety of pollutant discharges leaving the Penobscot Indian Nation (PIN) questioning the ecological health and water quality of the river and how this may affect the practices that sustain their way of life. The objectives of this Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE) study were to: Develop culturally sensitive methodologies for assessing the potential level of exposure tocontaminants that Penobscot Indian Nation tribal members may have from maintainingtribal sustenance practices. Conduct field surveys and laboratory analysis on targeted flora and fauna for chemicalexposure to dioxins/furans, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), total mercury and methyl-mercury. Assist the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) by providing thenecessary data to conduct a Public Health Assessment for the Penobscot Indian Nation. Establish protocols for assessing the level of exposure to PCBs, dioxins/furans and mercuryto PIN tribal members as a consequence of gathering tribal plants for medicinal andnutritional purposes; as well as consuming fish, wood duck, and snapping turtle as a primarysource of nutrition. Survey surface water, drinking water, and sediment from the Penobscot River and IndianIsland to assess the exposure of PIN tribal members to environmental genotoxicants thatcontinue cultural sustenance practices. This research initiative collected and analyzed sediment and biota to determine the level of contaminant exposure to Penobscot tribal members. Natural resource utilization patterns and exposure pathways were identified based on discussions with the Tribal elders. Identification of Tribal exposure factors (exposure pathways and contaminant concentrations) was essential for accurately assessing potential long-term Penobscot Indian Nation tribal members’ exposure. Based on this study, ATSDR’s Public Health Assessment (PHA) concluded that the Penobscot Indian Nation (PIN) tribal members who eat fish and snapping turtle at the ingestion levels suggested in the Wabanaki Traditional Cultural Lifeways Exposure Scenario Report (Wabanaki Exposure Scenario) may be exposed to harmful levels of mercury, dioxins/furans, dioxin-like PCBs, and ot

Maine↗
USGS2024

Predicting the odds of chronic wasting disease with Habitat Risk software

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that was first detected in captive cervids in Colorado, United States (US) in 1967, but has since spread into free-ranging white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) across the US and Canada as well as to Scandinavia and South Korea. In some areas, the disease is considered endemic in wild deer populations, and governmental wildlife agencies have employed epidemiological models to understand long-term environmental risk. However, continued rapid spread of CWD into new regions of the continent has underscored the need for extension of these models into broader tools applicable for wide use by wildlife agencies. Additionally, efforts to semi-automate models will facilitate access of technical scientific methods to broader users. We introduce software (Habitat Risk) designed to link a previously published epidemiological model with spatially referenced environmental and disease testing data to enable agency personnel to make up-to-date, localized, data-driven predictions regarding the odds of CWD detection in surrounding areas after an outbreak is discovered. Habitat Risk requires pre-processing publicly available environmental datasets and standardization of disease testing (surveillance) data, after which an autonomous computational workflow terminates in a user interface that displays an interactive map of disease risk. We demonstrated the use of the Habitat Risk software with surveillance data of white-tailed deer from Tennessee, USA.

Tennessee↗
USGS2025

Predictions of elk and chronic wasting disease dynamics at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, and surrounding areas

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Elk Refuge (NER) in Jackson, Wyoming, supplementally feeds Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (American bison) during winter months, but the costs and benefits of this management strategy are being reevaluated considering the potential effects of chronic wasting disease (CWD) on elk. U.S. Geological Survey scientists worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a structured decision-making process that considered five alternative feeding strategies and their effects on bison, elk, and humans. This chapter focuses on elk population dynamics and CWD using computer models. Our modeling results highlight a short- versus long-term tradeoff between the continue feeding and no feeding alternatives. Management alternatives associated with a cessation of supplemental feeding were assumed to make elk more susceptible to severe winters, resulting in initially lower population sizes and less CWD transmission. The increased CWD prevalence and transmission associated with the continue feeding alternative resulted in lower elk population sizes by year 20 (mean=6,700, standard deviation=1,600 in the analysis area) in 70 percent of simulations compared to no feeding (mean=8,400, standard deviation=1,500). No feeding alternatives resulted in higher elk populations than the continue feeding alternative between years 7 and 13 when CWD prevalence exceeded 20 percent in the Jackson elk herd. The increased harvest alternative minimized CWD and natural mortality in 83 out of 100 simulations compared to the continue feeding alternative.

Wyoming↗
USGS2025

Predictions of elk and chronic wasting disease dynamics at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, and surrounding areas

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Elk Refuge (NER) in Jackson, Wyoming, supplementally feeds Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (American bison) during winter months, but the costs and benefits of this management strategy are being reevaluated considering the potential effects of chronic wasting disease (CWD) on elk. U.S. Geological Survey scientists worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a structured decision-making process that considered five alternative feeding strategies and their effects on bison, elk, and humans. This chapter focuses on elk population dynamics and CWD using computer models. Our modeling results highlight a short-versus long-term tradeoff between the continue feeding and no feeding alternatives. Management alternatives associated with a cessation of supplemental feeding were assumed to make elk more susceptible to severe winters, resulting in initially lower population sizes and less CWD transmission. The increased CWD prevalence and transmission associated with the continue feeding alternative resulted in lower elk population sizes by year 20 (mean=6,700, standard deviation=1,600 in the analysis area) in 70 percent of simulations compared to no feeding (mean=8,400, standard deviation=1,500). No feeding alternatives resulted in higher elk populations than the continue feeding alternative between years 7 and 13 when CWD prevalence exceeded 20 percent in the Jackson elk herd. The increased harvest alternative minimized CWD and natural mortality in 83 out of 100 simulations compared to the continue feeding alternative.

Wyoming↗
USGS1956

Histopathology of fish. IV. A granuloma of brook trout

In the summer of 1952, Snieszko and Griffin (1955) diagnosed kidney disease in brook trout from the Fish and Wildlife Service's station at Berlin, New Hampshire. During the examination of these fish, a peculiar lesion was observed in the vicinity of the gastric caeca. In very advanced cases, hard, glistening, white masses of tissue bearing a striking resemblance to mature testes often filled the abdominal cavity. In the initial examinations, the material was actually mistaken for normal testicular tissue. Subsequently, it was recognized as an entirely aberrant, proliferating tumor-like mass.

Progressive Fish-Culturist↗
USGS2021

Sediment mobility and river corridor assessment for a 140-kilometer segment of the main-stem Klamath River below Iron Gate Dam, California

This river corridor assessment documents sediment mobility and river response to flood disturbance along a 140-kilometer segment of the main-stem Klamath River below Iron Gate Dam, California. Field and remote sensing methods were used to assess fundamental indicators of active sediment transport and river response to a combination of natural runoff events and reservoir releases during the study period from 2005 to 2019. Discharge measurements at two gaged sites and bed-material samples at two ungaged sites provided direct and indirect evidence of mobile bed conditions, scour and fill, and surface flushing of fine sediment. Available remote-sensing datasets collected in 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2016 were used to determine sediment storage, flood inundation boundaries, and provide indirect evidence of flood-induced scour. These datasets validate channel-maintenance flows defined by Shea and others (2016). During the study period, flows greater than or equal to 6,030 cubic feet per second mobilized the substrate, caused localized scour, and flushed fine sediment from bar surfaces. Flows greater than or equal to 10,400 cubic feet per second stripped vegetation from bars and floodplains and produced deeper scour. Flood disturbance within the study reach is produced by the combined effect of natural flows and reservoir releases, which resulted in mobile bed conditions during the study period. Periodic scour and substrate disturbance are considered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be integral for managing disease-induced mortality of juvenile and adult salmonids. Substrate conditions conducive to parasites that host infectious diseases, particularly Ceratonova shasta, occur periodically. Additional studies are required to determine whether disease prevalence can be mitigated by well-timed reservoir releases. Study results are useful for interpreting linkages among physical and biological processes and for evaluating the effectiveness of flow management targeted to improve river bed conditions for endangered salmonid populations.

California↗
USGS2009

Bat Rabies and Other Lyssavirus Infections

Bat Rabies and Other Lyssavirus Infections offers readers an overview of the virus variants that cause bat rabies, and geographical patterns in occurrence of this disease. The section Species Susceptibility describes infection rates and trends among bats, humans, and other animals. Disease Ecology considers the biological and environmental dynamics of the disease in various species of bats. Points to Ponder: Interspecies Interactions in Potential Bat Rabies Transmission Settings discusses the narrowing interface of bat colonies and human society and how humans and domestic animals play a role in transmission of bat rabies. Disease Prevention and Control outlines how to limit exposure to rabid bats and other animals. Appendixes include extensive tables of reported infections in bat species and in humans, and a glossary of technical terms is included. The author, Denny G. Constantine, helped define rabies infection in insect-eating bats and has investigated bat rabies ecology for more than half a century. He has authored more than 90 papers during the course of his career and is widely considered to be the world's foremost authority on the disease. Currently, Dr. Constantine is a public health officer emeritus and veterinary epidemiologist for the California Department of Health Services Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory. Milt Friend, first director of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, wrote the foreword. David Blehert, a USGS microbiologist who is investigating the emergence and causes of bat white-nose syndrome, edited the volume. Bat Rabies is intended for scholars and the general public. Dr. Constantine presents the material in a simple, straightforward manner that serves both audiences. The goal of the author is to increase people's understanding of both bat and disease ecology and also provide a balanced perspective on human risks pertaining to bat rabies.

Circular↗
USGS1999

Public acceptance of wildlife trapping in Colorado

In November 1994, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) initiated a stakeholder process to develop trapping regulations that would seek to achieve compromise among divergent interests. A telephone survey was conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the Colorado public's acceptance of trapping. A random sample of 900 residents, stratified by geographic region, indicated that the public would vote to ban trapping and that they believed the ban would eliminate a cruel activity and help to preserve endangered wildlife. Most, however, agreed that trapping was acceptable to prevent spread of disease and to protect livestock, but unacceptable on the basis of providing recreation or making money. Beliefs about trapping were found to be rooted in a protection versus use value orientation about wildlife. The regulations subsequently adopted by the CDOW were consistent with survey findings; however, the regulatory process was bypassed by legislative action, giving trapping authority to the Colorado Department of Agriculture. In response, citizen activists succeeded in placing a ballot initiative before voters. In 1996, the ballot initiative passed, banning trapping in Colorado.

Wildlife Society Bulletin↗
USGS2023

Gene expression reveals immune response strategies of naïve Hawaiian honeycreepers experimentally infected with introduced avian malaria

The unprecedented rise in the number of new and emerging infectious diseases in the last quarter century poses direct threats to human and wildlife health. The introduction to the Hawaiian archipelago of Plasmodium relictum and the mosquito vector that transmits the parasite has led to dramatic losses in endemic Hawaiian forest bird species. Understanding how mechanisms of disease immunity to avian malaria may evolve is critical as climate change facilitates increased disease transmission to high elevation habitats where malaria transmission has historically been low and the majority of the remaining extant Hawaiian forest bird species now reside. Here, we compare the transcriptomic profiles of highly susceptible Hawai‘i ‘amakihi ( Chlorodrepanis virens ) experimentally infected with P. relictum to those of uninfected control birds from a naïve high elevation population. We examined changes in gene expression profiles at different stages of infection to provide an in-depth characterization of the molecular pathways contributing to survival or mortality in these birds. We show that the timing and magnitude of the innate and adaptive immune response differed substantially between individuals that survived and those that succumbed to infection, and likely contributed to the observed variation in survival. These results lay the foundation for developing gene-based conservation strategies for Hawaiian honeycreepers by identifying candidate genes and cellular pathways involved in the pathogen response that correlate with a bird’s ability to recover from malaria infection.

Hawaii↗
USGS2013

Trichinosis

Trichinosis, or trichinellosis, is one of the most widespread global parasitic diseases of humans and animals. This ancient disease is caused by the larval stage of parasitic roundworms (nematodes) in the genus Trichinella. Often called the “trichina worm,” this parasite is considered to be the king of the parasite community, because it has adapted to an extremely wide range of hosts including domestic animals, wildlife, and humans. Trichinella spiralis is the usual cause of the disease in humans, but humans and many other mammals, birds, and reptiles also can be infected with other species or strains of Trichinella. Regardless of climate and environments, a wide variety of hosts on most continents are infected. Trichinella is transmitted through the ingestion of infected meat, primarily through predation or cannibalism of raw meat, and this ensures survival of the parasite in a wide variety of hosts. Humans become infected only by eating improperly cooked meat that contains infective larvae. While most people have only mild symptoms after infection, when high numbers of larvae are ingested trichinosis can cause serious disease, as well as death. Although trichinosis has been historically associated with pork, it is now emerging as a more widespread food-borne zoonosis as the consumption of wild game meat increases.

Circular↗
USGS1999

Inclusion body disease of cranes

In March 1978, a previously unidentified herpesvirus was isolated at the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) from a die-off of captive cranes housed at the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Serological testing of this virus against other previously isolated avian herpesviruses does not result in cross-reactions, thereby supporting this agent’s status as a distinctly new virus. The NWHC assigned the descriptive name, “inclusion body disease of cranes” (IBDC) to this disease when reporting the outbreak in the scientific literature, because the disease is characterized by microscopic inclusions in cell nuclei throughout the liver and spleen. Very little is known about how this disease is transmitted. As with duck plague and avian cholera, outbreaks are thought to be initiated by disease carriers within a population of birds. The disease likely spreads by direct contact between infected birds and other susceptible birds and by contact with a virus-contaminated environment. Findings of antibody in sera of cranes bled nearly 3 years before the deaths at ICF indicates that the IBDC virus can be maintained in a captive crane population for at least 2 years and 8 months without causing mortality. The IBDC virus has been isolated from the cloaca of antibody-positive cranes, which indicates the potential for fecal shedding of the virus.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS2014

Ecological implications of Laurel Wilt infestation on Everglades Tree Islands, southern Florida

There is a long history of introduced pests attacking native forest trees in the United States (Liebhold and others, 1995; Aukema and others, 2010). Well-known examples include chestnut blight that decimated the American chestnut ( Castanea dentata ), an extremely important tree in the eastern United States, both as a food source for wildlife and humans and for the wood; Dutch elm disease that attacks native elms ( Ulmus spp.), including those commonly planted as shade trees along city streets; and the balsam wooly adelgid (Adelges piceae), an insect that is destroying Fraser firs ( Abies fraseri ) in higher elevations of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Laurel wilt, a fungal disease transmitted by the redbay ambrosia beetle (Xyleborus glabratus), is a 21st-century example of an introduced forest pest that attacks native tree species in the laurel family (Lauraceae) (Mayfield, 2007; Hulcr and Dunn, 2011). The introduction of laurel wilt disease has been traced to the arrival of an Asian ambrosia beetle ( Xyleborus glabratus ) at Port Wentworth, Georgia, near Savannah, in 2002, apparently accidently introduced in wooden shipping material (Mayfield, 2007). Within the next 2 years, it was determined that the non-native wood-boring insect was the vector of an undescribed species of fungus, responsible for killing large numbers of red bay ( Persea borbonia ) trees in the surrounding area. Dispersing female redbay ambrosia beetles drill into live trees and create tunnels in the wood. They carry with them fungal spores in specialized organs called mycangia at the base of each mandible and sow the spores in the tunnels they excavate. The fungus, since named Raffaelea lauricola (Harrington and others, 2008), is the food source for adults and larvae. The introduction of Raffaelea lauricola causes the host plant to react in such a way as to block the vascular tissue, resulting in loss of water conduction, wilt, and death (Kendra and others, 2013). Although first seen in red bay, laurel wilt disease also kills other native trees that are members of the laurel family, including swamp bay ( Persea palustris ), silk bay ( Persea borbonia var. humilis ), and sassafras ( Sassafras albidum ), as well as the economically important cultivated avocado ( Persea americana ) (Fraedrich and others, 2008). This paper is concerned primarily with swamp bay, an important component of Everglades tree islands. The spread of the redbay ambrosia beetle and its fungal symbiont has been very rapid, exceeding model predictions (Koch and Smith, 2008); by 2011, laurel wilt disease was found from the southern coastal plain of North Carolina to southern peninsular Florida. The first redbay ambrosia beetle was trapped in Miami-Dade County in March 2010, and laurel wilt disease was discovered in swamp bays in February 2011 and in commercial avocado groves about a year later (Kendra and others, 2013). By 2013, laurel wilt disease was seen in swamp bays throughout the southern Everglades in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) 3A and 3B (Rodgers and others, 2014).

Florida↗
USGS2017

Modeling waterfowl habitat selection in the Central Valley of California to better understand the spatial relationship between commercial poultry and waterfowl

Wildlife researchers frequently study resource and habitat selection of wildlife to understand their potential habitat requirements and to conserve their populations. Understanding wildlife spatial-temporal distributions related to habitat have other applications such as to model interfaces between wildlife and domestic food animals in order to mitigate disease transmission to food animals. The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus represents a significant risk to the poultry industry. The Central Valley of California offers a unique geographical confluence of commercial poultry and wild waterfowl, which are thought to be a key reservoir of avian influenza (AI). Therefore, understanding spatio-temporal distributions of waterfowl could improve our understanding of potential risk of HPAI exposure from a commercial poultry perspective. Using existing radio-telemetry data on waterfowl (U.S. Geological Survey) in combination with habitat and vegetation data based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we are developing GIS-based statistical models that predict the probability of waterfowl presence (Habitat Suitability Mapping). Near-real-time application can be developed using recent habitat data derived from Landsat imagery (acquired by satellites and publicly available through the U.S. Geological Survey) to predict temporally- and spatially-varying distributions of waterfowl in the Central Valley. These results could be used to provide decision support for the poultry industry in addressing potential risk of HPAI exposure related to waterfowl proximity.

California↗
USGS2017

Inferring infection hazard in wildlife populations by linking data across individual and population scales

Our ability to infer unobservable disease-dynamic processes such as force of infection (infection hazard for susceptible hosts) has transformed our understanding of disease transmission mechanisms and capacity to predict disease dynamics. Conventional methods for inferring FOI estimate a time-averaged value and are based on population-level processes. Because many pathogens exhibit epidemic cycling and FOI is the result of processes acting across the scales of individuals and populations, a flexible framework that extends to epidemic dynamics and links within-host processes to FOI is needed. Specifically, within-host antibody kinetics in wildlife hosts can be short-lived and produce patterns that are repeatable across individuals, suggesting individual-level antibody concentrations could be used to infer time since infection and hence FOI. Using simulations and case studies (influenza A in lesser snow geese and Yersinia pestis in coyotes), we argue that with careful experimental and surveillance design, the population-level FOI signal can be recovered from individual-level antibody kinetics, despite substantial individual-level variation. In addition to improving inference, the cross-scale quantitative antibody approach we describe can reveal insights into drivers of individual-based variation in disease response, and the role of poorly understood processes such as secondary infections, in population-level dynamics of disease.

Ecology Letters↗