Two hundred sixty-five black bears (Ursus americanus) from northcentral Idaho were examined serologically over a five-year period for antibodies against selected infectious disease agents. The number of positive serum samples number of sera tested and percent positive for each infectious agent is: tularemia, 65/340 (19); brucellosis, 18/332 (5); toxoplasmosis, 23/303 (8); leptospirosis, 2/196 (1); trichinosis, 16/122 (13); Q-fever, 13/210 (6); St. Louis encephalitis, 3/340 (1); western equine encephalitis, 4/334 (1); Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, 6/282 (2). Black bears may serve as an indicator for infection in other wildlife, domestic animals and humans in the area..
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http://dx.doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-16.3.423 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Alaska Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK, United States of America.
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a common method of estimating the composition of prey species in the diets of consumers from polar and temperate ecosystems in which lipids are an important source of energy. A key characteristic of QFASA is that the large number of fatty acids that typically comprise lipids permits the dietary contributions of a correspondingly large number of prey types to be estimated. Several modifications to the original QFASA methods have been suggested in the literature and a significant extension of the original model published in 2017 allows simultaneous estimation of both diet proportions and calibration coefficients, which are metabolic constants in the model whose values must otherwise be estimated in independent feeding experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOecologia
January 2025
Tohoku Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Morioka, Iwate, Japan.
Vertical seed dispersal towards higher or lower altitudes is an important process for plants' adaptation to climate change. Although many plants depend on animals for seed dispersal, studies on vertical seed dispersal by animals, determined by complex animal behaviours, are scarce. Previous studies hypothesised that animals inhabiting temperate regions disperse seeds uphill in spring/summer and downhill in autumn/winter due to their seasonal movement following the altitudinal gradients in food phenology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports
January 2025
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, 180 E. Green Street, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA; Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Wildlife Health Building, 589 D. W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA 30602, USA; Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, 140 E. Green Street, Odum School of Ecology, Athens, GA 30602, USA. Electronic address:
American black bears (Ursus americanus) admitted to a Virginia rehabilitation center were tested for Ursicoptes americanus. From 2014 to 2023, 23 of 150 (15.3 %) bears were positive with higher prevalence in juveniles and females.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Appl Acarol
January 2025
Laboratorio de Vectores y Enfermedades Transmitidas, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, CENUR Litoral Norte, Universidad de la República, Salto, Uruguay.
Babesia species (Piroplasmida) are hemoparasites that infect erythrocytes of mammals and birds and are mainly transmitted by hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae). These hemoparasites are known to be the second most common parasites infecting mammals, after trypanosomes, and some species may cause malaria-like disease in humans. Diagnosis and understanding of Babesia diversity increasingly rely on genetic data obtained through molecular techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcology
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University, Nanchong, China.
Understanding the patterns and drivers of species range shifts is essential to disentangle mechanisms driving species' responses to global change. Here, we quantified local extinction and colonization dynamics of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) using occurrence data collected by harnessing the labor of >1000 workers and >60,000 worker days for each of the three periods (TP1: 1985-1988, TP2: 1998-2002, and TP3: 2011-2014), and evaluated how these patterns were associated with (1) protected area, (2) local rarity/abundance, and (3) abiotic factors (i.e.
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