Optimising Control Device Luring Strategies for Invasive Predator Control: A Modelling Approach.

Invasive predators pose a serious threat to native biodiversity, with trapping being one of several methods developed to manage and monitor their populations. Many individuals in these predator populations have been found to display trap-shyness, which hinders eradication and results in inaccurate estimates of population size. Lures are used to help overcome trap-shyness by increasing the probability of interaction with the device, but the extent of trap-shyness in wild populations, and the best timing for the introduction of a new lure or combination of lures, are uncertain.

Toxoplasma gondii Survey in Waterfowl and Gulls from Eight USA States.

Sera from 391 waterbirds from eight USA states were tested for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies using the modified agglutination test. Fifteen different waterbird species (26.6%; n=104) were seropositive.

Social learning in a nocturnal marsupial: is it a possum-ability?

Social learning can reduce the costs associated with trial-and-error learning. There is speculation that social learning could contribute to trap and bait avoidance in invasive species like the common brushtail possum ()-a marsupial for which social learning has not previously been investigated. In large outdoor pens, we presented wild-caught 'demonstrator' possums with puzzle devices containing an attractive food reward; 2 of 8 demonstrators accessed the reward the first night the puzzle was presented and another three succeeded on later nights.

Patterns of deer ked (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) and tick (Ixodida: Ixodidae) infestation on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the eastern United States.

Background: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) host numerous ectoparasitic species in the eastern USA, most notably various species of ticks and two species of deer keds. Several pathogens transmitted by ticks to humans and other animal hosts have also been found in deer keds. Little is known about the acquisition and potential for transmission of these pathogens by deer keds; however, tick-deer ked co-feeding transmission is one possible scenario.

Selective Host Attachment by Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae): Tick-Lizard Associations in the Southeastern United States.

Questing behavior and host associations of immature blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, from the southeastern United States are known to differ from those in the north. To elucidate these relationships we describe host associations of larval and nymphal I. scapularis from 8 lizard species sampled from 5 sites in the southeastern U.