No abstract

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a deadly and infectious neurodegenerative disease caused by a normal host protein, the cellular prion protein (PrPC), that takes on an abnormal complexity and is found in white-tailed deer and other members of Family Cervidae in the United States, Canada, and now Europe. With the potential to cause irreversible population declines, understanding how population dynamics or landscape composition plays a role in the transmission and dispersal of CWD is detrimental. We created generalized linear models (GLM) and principal component analysis (PCA), using a 10-year dataset created and provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), to investigate how sex, life stage, and landcover type affects CWD prevalence in two landscape-varying zones in Missouri. Our results showed that fawns and male white-tailed deer were the best predictors of CWD prevalence in both zones and the state of Missouri as a whole. Our landcover analysis of the state of Missouri also displayed cropland and wetland as the two most significant landcover types affecting CWD prevalence. With help from Missouri private landowners, MDC staff, and other stakeholders, a larger data set and further investigation into the effects of landscape composition, fawns, and male white-tailed deer on CWD prevalence could make ground-breaking discoveries and help protect an abundant Cervid species that is the states' most valuable natural resource.