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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.

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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.

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Additional Resources

Filter Total Items: 1614

Coastal habitat degradation and green sea turtle diets in Southeastern Brazil

To show the influence of coastal habitat degradation on the availability of food for green turtles (Chelonia mydas), we assessed the dietary preferences and macroalgae community at a feeding area in a highly urbanized region. The area showed low species richness and was classified as degraded. We examined stomach contents of 15 dead stranded turtles (CCL = 44.0 cm (SD 6.7 cm)). The diet was compos
Authors
Robson G. Santos, Agnaldo Silva Martins, Julyana da Nobrega Farias, Antunes Paulo Horta, Hudson Tercio Pinheiro, Cecilia Baptistotte, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, George H. Balazs, Thierry M. Work
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Bat white-nose syndrome in North America

* The newly described fungus, Geomyces destructans, causes an invasive skin infection in bats and is the likely agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS). * With immune system functions and body temperatures reduced during hibernation, bats may be unusually susceptible to a pathogenic fungus such as G. destructans. * WNS was first observed in a popular show cave near Albany, New York, leading some invest
Authors
David S. Blehert, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Anne E. Ballmann, Paul M. Cryan, Carol U. Meteyer
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Coral diversity and the severity of disease outbreaks: a cross-regional comparison of Acropora white syndrome in a species-rich region (American Samoa) with a species-poor region (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands).

The dynamics of the coral disease, Acropora white syndrome (AWS), was directly compared on reefs in the species-poor region of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the species-rich region of American Samoa (AS) with results suggesting that biodiversity, which can affect the abundance of susceptible hosts, is important in influencing the impacts of coral disease outbreaks. The diversity-dis
Authors
G.S. Aeby, D.G. Bourne, B. Wilson, Thierry M. Work
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Copper mines may affect lichens of two Southern Arizona national protected areas

No abstract available.
Authors
James P. Bennett
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Acute toxicity, histopathology, and coagulopathy in American kestrels (Falco sparverius) following administration of the rodenticie diphacinone

The acute oral toxicity of the anticoagulant rodenticide diphacinone was found to be over 20 times greater in American kestrels (Falco sparverius; median lethal dose 96.8 mg/kg body weight) compared with Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). Modest evidence of internal bleeding was observed at necropsy, although histological examination of heart, liver, kidney,
Authors
Barnett A. Rattner, Katherine E. Horak, Sarah E. Warner, Daniel D. Day, Carol U. Meteyer, Steven F. Voler, John D. Eisemann, John J. Johnston
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center

National Wildlife Health Center's quarterly wildlife mortality report January 2011 to March 2011

No abstract available.
Authors
Anne Ballmann, C. LeAnn White, Jennifer Bradsby
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Comparative health assessment of western Pacific leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) foraging off the coast of California, 2005-2007

Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are critically endangered, primarily threatened by the overharvesting of eggs, fisheries entanglement, and coastal development. The Pacific leatherback population has experienced a catastrophic decline over the past two decades. Leatherbacks foraging off the coast of California are part of a distinct Western Pacific breeding stock that nests on beaches in

Authors
Heather S. Harris, Scott R. Benson, Kirsten V. Gilardi, Robert H. Poppenga, Thierry M. Work, Peter H. Dutton, Jonna A.K. Mazet
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Degradation of the disease-associated prion protein by a serine protease from lichens.

The disease-associated prion protein (PrPTSE), the probable etiological agent of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), is resistant to degradation and can persist in the environment. Lichens, mutualistic symbioses containing fungi, algae, bacteria and occasionally cyanobacteria, are ubiquitous in the environment and have evolved unique biological activities allowing their survival
Authors
Christopher J. Johnson, James P. Bennett, S.M. Biro, J. C. Duque-Velasquez, Cynthia M. Rodriguez, R. A. Bessen, Tonie E. Rocke
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

National Wildlife Health Center's quarterly wildlife mortality report October 2010 to December 2010

No abstract available.
Authors
Anne Ballmann, C. LeAnn White, Jennifer Bradsby
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Interspecific exchange of avian influenza virus genes in Alaska: The influence of trans-hemispheric migratory tendency and breeding ground sympatry

The movement and transmission of avian influenza viral strains via wild migratory birds may vary by host species as a result of migratory tendency and sympatry with other infected individuals. To examine the roles of host migratory tendency and species sympatry on the movement of Eurasian low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) genes into North America, we characterized migratory patterns and LPAI v
Authors
John M. Pearce, Andrew B. Reeves, Andrew M. Ramey, Jerry W. Hupp, Hon S. Ip, M. Bertram, M.J. Petrula, B.D. Scotton, K.A. Trust, Brandt W. Meixell, J.A. Runstadler
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center

Meat and bone meal and mineral feed additives may increase the risk of oral prion disease transmission

Ingestion of prion-contaminated materials is postulated to be a primary route of prion disease transmission. Binding of prions to soil (micro)particles dramatically enhances peroral disease transmission relative to unbound prions, and it was hypothesized that micrometer-sized particles present in other consumed materials may affect prion disease transmission via the oral route of exposure. Small,
Authors
Christopher J. Johnson, Debbie McKenzie, Joel A. Pedersen, Judd M. Aiken
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Soil clay content underlies prion infection odds

Environmental factors—especially soil properties—have been suggested as potentially important in the transmission of infectious prion diseases. Because binding to montmorillonite (an aluminosilicate clay mineral) or clay-enriched soils had been shown to enhance experimental prion transmissibility, we hypothesized that prion transmission among mule deer might also be enhanced in ranges with relativ
Authors
W. David Walter, D.P. Walsh, Matthew L. Farnsworth, Dana L. Winkelman, M.W. Miller
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, National Wildlife Health Center