Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

View citations of publications by National Wildlife Health Center scientists since our founding in 1975.  Access to full-text is provided where possible.

Wildlife Health Bulletins

Sanderling on sand.

Wildlife Health Bulletins are distributed to natural resource/conservation agencies to provide and promote information exchange about significant wildlife health threats.

Access Bulletins

Wildlife Disease Case Definitions

Lesser black-backed gull

Case definitions provide a standardized, science-based set of criteria for diagnosing disease and pathogens. This manual provides case definitions for selected diseases of importance to wildlife in Canada and the United States.

Access Case Definitions

Additional Resources

Filter Total Items: 1614

Relatively high prevalence of pox-like lesions in Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) among nine species of migratory grassland passerines in Wisconsin, USA

Globally, Avipoxvirus species affect over 230 species of wild birds and can significantly impair survival. During banding of nine grassland songbird species (n = 346 individuals) in southwestern Wisconsin, USA, we noted species with a 2–6% prevalence of pox-like lesions (possible evidence of current infection) and 4–10% missing digits (potential evidence of past infection). These prevalences appro
Authors
Kevin S. Ellison, Erik K. Hofmeister, Christine A. Ribic, David W. Sample
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center, Bird Banding Laboratory

Book review: Spatial capture-recapture

Understanding how animals use space is a vital aspect of conservation planning and wildlife management. Technological developments (e.g., increased computer power and desktop geographic information system [GIS] applications) are bringing the ability to analyze spatial data sets to the individual biologist. Therefore, it is not surprising that methodologies have been developed to incorporate space
Authors
Robin E. Russell
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Utilizing hunter harvest effort to survey for wildlife disease: a case study of West Nile virus in greater sage-grouse

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse) are highly susceptible to infection with West Nile virus (WNV), with substantial mortality reported in wild populations and in experimentally infected birds. Although sage-grouse are hunted throughout much of their range, they have also recently been considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act. We used blood samples collec
Authors
Robert J. Dusek, Christian A. Hagen, J. Christian Franson, David A. Budeau, Erik K. Hofmeister
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center

Causes of mortality in eagles submitted to the National Wildlife Health Center 1975-2013

We summarized the cause of death for 2,980 bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and 1,427 golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) submitted to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, for diagnosis between 1975 and the beginning of 2013. We compared the proportion of eagles with a primary diagnosis as electrocuted, emaciated, traumatized, shot or trapped, diseased, poisoned, oth
Authors
Robin E. Russell, J. Christian Franson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center

Pink spot, white spot: the pineal skylight of the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea Vandelli 1761) skull and its possible role in the phenology of feeding migrations

Leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, which have an irregular pink area on the crown of the head known as the pineal or ‘pink spot’, forage upon jellyfish in cool temperate waters along the western and eastern margins of the North Atlantic during the summer. Our study showed that the skeletal structures underlying the pink spot in juvenile and adult turtles are compatible with the idea of a p
Authors
John Davenport, T. Todd Jones, Thierry M. Work, George H. Balazs
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Great Apes

Anesthesia of great apes is often necessary to conduct diagnostic analysis, provide therapeutics, facilitate surgical procedures, and enable transport and translocation for conservation purposes. Due to the stress of remote delivery injection of anesthetic agents, recent studies have focused on oral delivery and/or transmucosal absorption of preanesthetic and anesthetic agents. Maintenance of the
Authors
Jonathan M. Sleeman, Shannon Cerveny
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Contaminant exposure of birds nesting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

In earlier studies, elevated concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) were reported in double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) eggs and tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and nestlings collected from lower Green Bay (WI, USA) in 1994 and 1995 and black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) eggs collected in 1991. Comparabl
Authors
Thomas W. Custer, Paul M. Dummer, Christine M. Custer, J. Christian Franson, Michael Jones
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Spatial and temporal patterns in concentrations of perfluorinated compounds in bald eagle nestlings in the Upper Midwestern United States

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are of concern due to their widespread use, persistence in the environment, tendency to accumulate in animal tissues, and growing evidence of toxicity. Between 2006 and 2011 we collected blood plasma from 261 bald eagle nestlings in six study areas from the upper Midwestern United States. Samples were assessed for levels of 16 different PFCs. We used regression anal

Authors
William T. Route, Robin E. Russell, Andrew B. Lindstrom, Mark J. Strynor, Rebecca L. Key
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center

Investigating the potential role of persistent organic pollutants in Hawaiian green sea turtle fibropapillomatosis

It has been hypothesized for decades that environmental pollutants may contribute to green sea turtle fibropapillomatosis (FP), possibly through immunosuppression leading to greater susceptibility to the herpesvirus, the putative causative agent of this tumor-forming disease. To address this question, we measured concentrations of 164 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and halogenated phenols in
Authors
Jennifer M. Keller, George H. Balazs, Frances Nilsen, Marc Rice, Thierry M. Work, Brenda A. Jensen
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Gross and microscopic pathology of hard and soft corals in New Caledonia

We surveyed the reefs of Grande Terre, New Caledonia, for coral diseases in 2010 and 2013. Lesions encountered in hard and soft corals were systematically described at the gross and microscopic level. We sampled paired and normal tissues from 101 and 65 colonies in 2010 and 2013, respectively, comprising 51 species of corals from 27 genera. Tissue loss was the most common gross lesion sampled (40%
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Greta S. Aeby, Gregory Lasne, Aline Tribollet
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

USGS National Wildlife Health Center quarterly mortality report

No abstract available.
Authors
Anne E. Ballmann, C. LeAnn White, Barbara L. Bodenstein, Jennifer Buckner
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Changes in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting along the Sheboygan River, WI, USA

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs on the Sheboygan River, Wisconsin in the 1990s was higher at sites downstream (geometric means = 3.33–8.69 μg/g wet wt.) of the putative PCB source in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin than it was above the source (1.24 μg/g) with the exposure declining as the distance downstream of the source increased. A similar pat
Authors
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Sean M. Strom, Kathleen A. Patnode, J. Christian Franson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center