Effectiveness of Vaginal‐Implant Transmitters for Locating Elk Parturition Sites

Barbknecht, Andrea E.; Fairbanks, W. Sue; Rogerson, Jared D.; Maichak, Eric J.; Meadows, Laura L.

doi:10.2193/2008-032

Cited by 33 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…All procedures were approved by the the Montana State University and Iowa State University animal use and care protocols (#2010‐02, #8‐05‐5962). Births or reproductive failures result in VIT expulsion and the temperature change initiates a change in the VIT signal from 40 to 80 beats‐per‐minute (Barbknecht et al ). To supplement our VIT analyses, we collected records of fetuses that were recovered from 1968 to 2014 from supplemental elk feedgrounds.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We classified events as regular births when we observed a location exhibiting typical birth site characteristics (e.g., matted or eaten vegetation, moist soil, fresh feces, elk odor, ants or flies, lack of fetus, or fetal remains; Barbknecht et al ) during the typical birth season (mid May through late Jun; Barbknecht et al ). We classified an event as a reproductive failure when we found a fetus or fetal remains; we isolated Brucella by culturing or polymerase chain reaction (PCR); or we recovered the VIT outside of the typical birthing season (Barbknecht et al ). We considered all of these criteria in concert with one another and did not consider any to be definitive with the exception of finding the fetus or partial remains.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We considered all of these criteria in concert with one another and did not consider any to be definitive with the exception of finding the fetus or partial remains. We determined the date of a reproductive event by a precise event timing (PET) device, which activated once a VIT switched to 80 bpm and indicated the time of expulsion within 30 minutes (Barbknecht et al ). Johnson et al () did not find any spontaneous expulsion of the 38 VITs with 80‐mm wings that they used in elk.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating the phenology of elk brucellosis transmission with hierarchical models of cause-specific and baseline hazards

et al. 2015

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Understanding the seasonal timing of disease transmission can lead to more effective control strategies, but the seasonality of transmission is often unknown for pathogens transmitted directly. We inserted vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) in 575 elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) from 2006 to 2014 to assess when reproductive failures (i.e., abortions or still births) occur, which is the primary transmission route of Brucella abortus, the causative agent of brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Using a survival analysis framework, we developed a Bayesian hierarchical model that simultaneously estimated the total baseline hazard of a reproductive event as well as its 2 mutually exclusive parts (abortions or live births). Approximately, 16% (95% CI = 0.10, 0.23) of the pregnant seropositive elk had reproductive failures, whereas 2% (95% CI = 0.01, 0.04) of the seronegative elk had probable abortions. Reproductive failures could have occurred as early as 13 February and as late as 10 July, peaking from March through May. Model results suggest that less than 5% of likely abortions occurred after 6 June each year and abortions were approximately 5 times more likely in March, April, or May compared to February or June. In western Wyoming, supplemental feeding of elk begins in December and ends during the peak of elk abortions and brucellosis transmission (i.e., Mar and Apr). Years with more snow may enhance elk‐to‐elk transmission on supplemental feeding areas because elk are artificially aggregated for the majority of the transmission season. Elk‐to‐cattle transmission will depend on the transmission period relative to the end of the supplemental feeding season, elk seroprevalence, population size, and the amount of commingling. Our statistical approach allowed us to estimate the probability density function of different event types over time, which may be applicable to other cause‐specific survival analyses. It is often challenging to assess the cause of death, or in this case whether the reproductive event was an abortion or live birth. Accounting for uncertainty in the event type is an important future addition to our methodological approach. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating the phenology of elk brucellosis transmission with hierarchical models of cause-specific and baseline hazards

et al. 2015

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“…However, the neonatal period is an especially vulnerable time for predation (Adams et al 1995;Gustine et al 2006), and there is limited information available on the neonatal period of a calf's life (0-4 weeks of age), including parturition rates, neonatal calf survival, adult female habitat selection, and calving-range fidelity (Rettie and Messier 1998;Wittmer et al 2005a;Pinard et al 2012). The lack of research during this time period is in-part because neonatal calf mortality is believed to be compensatory (Vaupel et al 1979;Tveraa et al 2003;Griffin et al 2011), but primarily because it is logistically difficult as well as invasive to capture and observe caribou and calves using conventional methods during this time such as aerial surveys (Whiting et al 2012), blood samples from captured animals (Wood et al 1986), and vagina-implant transmitters (Barbknecht et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking sanctuary: the neonatal calving period among central mountain woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Nobert¹,

Milligan²,

Stenhouse³

et al. 2016

Can. J. Zool.

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Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) populations have declined throughout their range. With the goal of better understanding habitat selection and fidelity during the neonatal calving period (0-4 weeks), we applied a noninvasive method that estimates calving events and subsequent survival based on changes in movement rates among GPS-collared female caribou. We examined a long-term GPS-collar data set (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) collected from 81 adult female caribou in two central mountain herds in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Although we were unable to validate our results with aerial surveys and pregnancy tests, our estimates of parturition rates, survival rates, calving dates, and habitat selection were consistent with previous studies. We identified 83 calving sites. Female caribou selected calving sites and postparturition habitat on high-elevation ridgetops with gradual slopes and avoided anthropogenic linear features. Female caribou displayed low fidelity to interannual calving ranges with a mean distance of 8.7 km between calving ranges. Fidelity was lower in areas with high seismic-line density. Conservation of high-elevation habitat with limited anthropogenic disturbance is likely to provide the greatest benefit to central mountain caribou during the neonatal calving period, and represents a potential management strategy for population recovery efforts.

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“…Alternatively, reproductive rates can be estimated using nonlethal methods, particularly for demographic studies where animals are captured, marked, and released (Ropstad et al 1999). Nonlethal techniques, such as camera surveys (McKinley et al 2006) or visual counts (Campbell et al 2005) have been used to characterize reproduction rates, but are often limited to assessing realized fecundity or recruitment and cannot account for conceptus death (Rowell et al 2000) or fetal abortion (Andelt et al 2004, Barbknecht et al 2009).…”

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Comparison of pregnancy detection methods in live white‐tailed deer

Duquette

Belant

Beyer

et al. 2012

Wildlife Society Bulletin

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Assessing ungulate reproduction is important to biologists for managing populations and predicting trends. We compared efficacy of trans‐abdominal ultrasound and pregnancy‐specific protein B (PSPB) white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) pregnancy estimates, respectively, from January to mid‐April 2009–2011 in the south‐central Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. We observed a strong agreement (K = 0.68, SE = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.42–0.94) of PSPB and ultrasound in categorizing pregnant and nonpregnant deer. Five deer were determined to be pregnant by ultrasound but not by PSPB and 6 females were judged to be nonpregnant using either method. Total cost for PSPB testing of 101 deer was US$2,220, whereas ultrasound equipment cost US$14,150. Trans‐abdominal ultrasound and PSPB provided accurate detection of pregnancy in live white‐tailed deer. We recommend PSPB for studies testing comparatively small numbers (up to several hundred) of deer. However, we recommend ultrasonography if real‐time pregnancy determination is needed (e.g., vaginal implant transmitter use), particularly for large numbers (i.e., several hundred to thousands) of deer. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.

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Effectiveness of Vaginal‐Implant Transmitters for Locating Elk Parturition Sites

Cited by 33 publications

References 13 publications

Estimating the phenology of elk brucellosis transmission with hierarchical models of cause-specific and baseline hazards

Estimating the phenology of elk brucellosis transmission with hierarchical models of cause-specific and baseline hazards

Seeking sanctuary: the neonatal calving period among central mountain woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Comparison of pregnancy detection methods in live white‐tailed deer

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