Wild birds pose a difficult food safety risk to manage because they can avoid traditional wildlife mitigation strategies, such as fences. Birds often use agricultural fields and structures as foraging and nesting areas, which can lead to defecation on crops and subsequent transfer of foodborne pathogens. To assess the food safety risk associated with these events, wild bird feces were collected from produce fields across the southeastern United States during the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolution of serovar Typhimurium (. Typhimurium) within passerines has resulted in pathoadaptation of this serovar to the avian host in Europe. Recently, we identified an .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalmonella 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 Typhimurium isolates from wild birds collected in 30 U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently, no standard method exists for analyzing insensitive munition (IM) compounds in environmental matrices, with or without concurrent legacy munition compounds, resulting in potentially inaccurate determinations. The primary objective of this work was to develop new methods of extraction, pre-concentration, and analytical separation/quantitation of 17 legacy munition compounds along with several additional IM compounds, IM breakdown products, and other munition compounds that are not currently included in U. S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiome studies focused on ecologically relevant vertebrate models like reptiles have been limited. Because of their relatively small home range, fast maturation, and high fecundity, lizards are an excellent reptilian terrestrial indicator species. For this study we used the green anole, Anolis carolinensis, to assess the impact of military relevant contaminants on fecal microbiome composition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn initiative within the US military is targeting the replacement of traditional munitions constituents with insensitive munitions to reduce the risk of accidental detonation. The bioavailability and bioaccumulative potential of the insensitive munitions compound 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) to Eisenia fetida was assessed in soils with different geochemical characteristics. Prior to exposure, soils were chemically spiked with DNAN and aged for 1 wk or 29 wk.
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