Publications

Wild waterbirds, the natural reservoirs for avian influenza viruses, undergo migratory movements each year, connecting breeding and wintering grounds within broad corridors known as flyways. In a continental or global view, the study of virus movements within and across flyways is important to understanding virus diversity, evolution, and movement. From 2015 to 2017, we sampled waterfowl from bree

Snake fungal disease (SFD; ophidiomycosis), caused by the pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (Oo), has been documented in wild snakes in North America and Eurasia, and is considered an emerging disease in the eastern United States of America. However, a lack of historical disease data has made it challenging to determine whether Oo is a recent arrival to the USA or whether SFD emergence is due to

White-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats, yet both the origins and infection strategy of the causative fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, remain elusive. We provide evidence for a novel hypothesis that P. destructans emerged from plant-associated fungi and retained invasion strategies affiliated with fungal pathogens of plants. We demonstrate that P. destructans invades bat skin in succe

The diversity of influenza A viruses (IAV) is primarily hosted by two highly divergent avian orders: Anseriformes (ducks, swans and geese) and Charadriiformes (gulls, terns and shorebirds). Studies of IAV have historically focused on Anseriformes, specifically dabbling ducks, overlooking the diversity of hosts in nature, including gull and goose species that have successfully adapted to human habi

The shift to holistic approaches to managing wildlife health, and the complex landscape of partners and stakeholders, has led to a focus on the development of leadership skills in addition to technical expertise. This chapter introduces key elements and core skills for successful cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary leadership that will help wildlife health practitioners effectively lead change to

Pollution is a pervasive and growing threat to wildlife health. This chapter discusses two broad groups of pollution, those whose abatement could have immediate beneficial effects including light, air, and noise pollution, and those that will take relatively longer to address due to their environmental persistence or their continuing discharge. Whilst we are very good at detecting the presence of

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a contagious, fatal, neurodegenerative prion disease of cervids. The expanding geographical range and rising prevalence of CWD are increasing the risk of pathogen transfer and spillover of CWD to non-cervid sympatric species. As beavers have close contact with environmental and food sources of CWD infectivity, we hypothesized that they may be susceptible to CWD pri

Preventing wildlife disease outbreaks is a priority for natural resource agencies, and management decisions can be urgent, especially in epidemic circumstances. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, wildlife agencies were concerned whether the activities they authorize might increase the risk of viral transmission from humans to North American bats, but had a limited amount of time in which to make de

Birds are highly susceptible to aspergillosis, which can manifest as a primary infection in both domestic and wild birds. Aspergillosis in wild birds causes mortalities ranging in scale from single animals to large-scale epizootic events. However, pathogenicity factors associated with aspergillosis in wild birds have not been examined. Specifically, it is unknown whether wild bird-infecting strain

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is typically considered a host generalist; however, certain isolates are associated with specific hosts and show genetic features of host adaptation. Here, we sequenced 131 S. Typhimurium isolates from wild birds collected in 30 U.S. states during 1978-2019. We found that isolates from broad taxonomic host groups including passerine birds, water birds (Aequo

The cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa, can produce the hepatotoxin microcystin. When toxic M. aeruginosa overwinters in the sediments of lakes, it may be ingested by aquatic insects and bioaccumulate in nymphs of Hexagenia mayflies. When volant Hexagenia emerge from lakes to reproduce, they provide an abundant, albeit temporary, food source for many terrestrial organisms including bats. Littl

Hawksbill sea turtles Eretmochelys imbricata inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands are extremely rare and listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. The paucity of data on basic hawksbill ecology continues to hinder effective management of the species. We analyzed stranding data collected between 1984 and 2018 to gain insights into the distribution, demography, and conservation challenges