Publications
Find out more about Biological Threat and Invasive Species Research through our publications.
Filter Total Items: 308
Herring Disease Program - Annual Project Report 2012011-E, February 1, 2010-January 31, 2021
We will investigate fish health factors that may be contributing to the failed recovery of Pacific herring populations in Prince William Sound. Field samples will provide infection and disease prevalence data from Prince William Sound and Sitka Sound to inform the age structured assessment (ASA) model, serological data will indicate the prior exposure history and future susceptibility of herring t
Authors
Paul Hershberger, Maureen K. Purcell
A comparative baseline of coral disease in three regions along the Saudi Arabian coast of the central Red Sea
Coral disease is a growing problem for coral reefs globally and diseases have been linked to thermal stress, excess nutrients, overfishing and other human impacts. The Red Sea is a unique environment for corals with a strong environmental gradient characterized by temperature extremes and high salinities, but minimal terrestrial runoff or riverine input and their associated pollution. Yet, relativ
Authors
Greta S. Aeby, Amanda Shore, Thor Jensen, Maren Ziegler, Thierry M. Work, Christian Voolstra
Distilling professional opinion to gauge vulnerability of Guam avifauna to Brown Treesnake predation
The avifauna of Guam was devastated by the introduction of the Brown Treesnake, and the restoration of native birds would need to address the problem with eradication or suppression of BTS. With eradication of the snake unlikely in the near term, and suppression capabilities limited to specific finite areas, key information for reintroductions is how low BTS abundance will likely need to be for ea
Authors
Robert McElderry, Eben H. Paxton, Andre Nguyen, Shane R. Siers
Temperature variation and host immunity regulate viral persistence in a salmonid host
Environmental variation has important effects on host–pathogen interactions, affecting large-scale ecological processes such as the severity and frequency of epidemics. However, less is known about how the environment interacts with host immunity to modulate virus fitness within hosts. Here, we studied the interaction between host immune responses and water temperature on the long-term persistence
Authors
David J. Páez, Rachel L. Powers, Peng Jia, Natalia Ballesteros, Gael Kurath, Kerry A. Naish, Maureen K. Purcell
Rapid assessment indicates context-dependent mitigation for amphibian disease risk
Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a fungal pathogen that can cause the emerging infectious disease Bsal chytridiomycosis in some amphibians and is currently causing dramatic declines in European urodeles. To date, Bsal has not been detected in North America but has the potential to cause severe declines in naïve hosts if introduced. Therefore, it is critical that wildlife managers are pr
Authors
Riley F Bernard, Evan H. Campbell Grant
Trait heritability and its implications for the management of an invasive vertebrate
Control methods that target specific traits of an invasive species can produce results contrary to the aims of management. If targeted phenotypes exhibit heritability, then it follows that the invasive species could evolve greater resistance to the applied control measures over time. Additional complications emerge if those traits targeted by control are also inversely related to reproductive succ
Authors
Brenna A Levine, Marlis R Douglas, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Bjorn Lardner, Robert Reed, Julie A. Savidge, Michael E Douglas
Spatial ecology of invasive Burmese pythons in southwestern Florida
Understanding the spatial ecology of an invasive species is critical for designing effective control programs. Determining and quantifying home range estimates and habitat associations can streamline targeted removal efforts for wide-ranging, cryptic animals. The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is a large-bodied constrictor snake with an established and expanding invasive population in southern
Authors
Ian A. Bartoszek, Brian J. Smith, Robert Reed, Kristen Hart
Soil reservoir dynamics of ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the causative agent of snake fungal disease
Wildlife diseases pose an ever-growing threat to global biodiversity. Understanding how wildlife pathogens are distributed in the environment and the ability of pathogens to form environmental reservoirs is critical to understanding and predicting disease dynamics within host populations. Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging conservation threat to North American snake populations. The causati
Authors
Lewis J. Campbell, Joanna Burger, Robert T. Zappalorti, John F. Bunnell, Megan Winzeler, Daniel R. Taylor, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Sea star wasting disease pathology in Pisaster ochraceus shows a basal-to-surface process affecting color phenotypes differently
Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) refers to a suite of poorly described non-specific clinical signs including abnormal posture, epidermal ulceration, and limb autotomy (sloughing) causing mortalities of over 20 species of sea stars and subsequent ecological shifts throughout the northeastern Pacific. While SSWD is widely assumed to be infectious, with environmental conditions facilitating disease pr
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Tina M. Weatherby, Christopher M. DeRito, Ryan M. Besemer, Ian Hewson
Native mammalian predators can depredate adult Burmese Pythons in Florida
Invasive predators are of conservation concern because they contribute to species declines and extinctions worldwide. Interactions of native fauna and invasive predators can be complex, but understanding these relationships can guide management and restoration. Observations of these interactions are especially important for invaders with low detectability like Python bivittatus (Burmese Python) wh
Authors
Matthew F. McCollister, Jillian Maureen Josimovich, Austin Lee Fitzgerald, Deborah K. Jansen, Andrea Faye Currylow
Transient disease dynamics across ecological scales
Analyses of transient dynamics are critical to understanding infectious disease transmission and persistence. Identifying and predicting transients across scales, from within-host to community-level patterns, plays an important role in combating ongoing epidemics and mitigating the risk of future outbreaks. Moreover, greater emphases on non-asymptotic processes will enable timely evaluations of wi
Authors
Yun Tao, Jessica L Hite, Kevin D. Lafferty, David J D Earn, Nita Bharti
Long-term shedding from fully convalesced individuals indicates that Pacific herring are a reservoir for viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus
Processes that allow viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) virus to persist in the marine environment remain enigmatic, owing largely to the presence of covert and cryptic infections in marine fishes during typical sub-epizootic periods. As such, marine host reservoirs for VHS virus have not been fully demonstrated, nor have the mechanism(s) by which infected hosts contribute to virus perpetuation an
Authors
Paul Hershberger, Ashley MacKenzie, Jacob L. Gregg, M. D. Wilmot, Rachel L. Powers, Maureen K. Purcell