Surveillance and monitoring of wildlife diseases

Mörner, Torsten; Obendorf, David; Artois, Marc; Woodford, M. H.

doi:10.20506/rst.21.1.1321

Cited by 166 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Detecting wildlife epidemics is often challenging due to the difficulty of diagnosing disease in wildlife and the action of ecological processes that hide mortality such as predation of weak animals, scavenging of carcasses and decomposition [37–39]. Detection of marine epidemics is even more challenging than those occurring in terrestrial habitats due to the additional complexities of making field observations [4, 40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Devastating Transboundary Impacts of Sea Star Wasting Disease on Subtidal Asteroids

et al. 2016

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Sea star wasting disease devastated intertidal sea star populations from Mexico to Alaska between 2013–15, but little detail is known about its impacts to subtidal species. We assessed the impacts of sea star wasting disease in the Salish Sea, a Canadian / United States transboundary marine ecosystem, and world-wide hotspot for temperate asteroid species diversity with a high degree of endemism. We analyzed roving diver survey data for the three most common subtidal sea star species collected by trained volunteer scuba divers between 2006–15 in 5 basins and on the outer coast of Washington, as well as scientific strip transect data for 11 common subtidal asteroid taxa collected by scientific divers in the San Juan Islands during the spring/summer of 2014 and 2015. Our findings highlight differential susceptibility and impact of sea star wasting disease among asteroid species populations and lack of differences between basins or on Washington’s outer coast. Specifically, severe depletion of sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) in the Salish Sea support reports of major declines in this species from California to Alaska, raising concern for the conservation of this ecologically important subtidal predator.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Devastating Transboundary Impacts of Sea Star Wasting Disease on Subtidal Asteroids

et al. 2016

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“…Currently, parts of Europe benefit from wildlife surveillance efforts (frequently limited to a few diseases), while in other parts, no surveillance is done at all. Proper implementation of a complete surveillance effort must be a priority of the veterinary authorities, as it is accepted that those countries that conduct disease surveillance of their wild animal populations are more likely to detect the presence of infectious and zoonotic diseases and to swiftly adopt countermeasures (Morner et al 2002).…”

Section: The Control Of Disease In Wildlife Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diseases shared between wildlife and livestock: a European perspective

et al. 2007

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“…Our ability to detect emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) is critical to understanding their effects upon wildlife species and biodiversity (Mörner et al 2002), and it is argued that rapid detection of EIDs in wildlife is essential to their management and mitigation (Voyles et al 2014). Specific DNA-based diagnostic tests are now well established, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based molecular tests have become a valuable tool in disease diagnostics (Belák et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the ability of swab data to determine the true burden of infection for the amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

et al. 2016

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Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a pathogenic fungus which causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians by infecting the animals’ epidermis. The most commonly applied method for the detection of Bd is the use of a sterile swab, rubbed over the keratinized areas of an amphibian and then processed to yield DNA for detection by qPCR. This method has been used to infer a threshold of lethal infection in some species; however, how reliable and reproducible the swabbing method is at detecting the true burden of infection suffered by individuals is not known. European midwife toads, Alytes obstetricans, are susceptible to chytridiomycosis and are highly parasitised by Bd across Europe. By quantifying Bd-load throughout the entire skin and comparing this to swab results taken from the same individual, we determined whether epidermal swabs provide a quantifiable and accurate indication of the true fungal burden suffered. Further, we examined whether we could infer a threshold for lethal infection based on comparison of swab data taken from infected A. obstetricans exhibiting different clinical states. From swab data, we detected significantly higher fungal burdens from moribund metamorphs compared to visually healthy individuals; however, the ability of these swab data to provide an accurate indication of the true fungal burden was not reliable. These data suggest that fungal load dynamics play an important role in disease-induced mortality in A. obstetricans at these sites, but that using swab data to infer an exact threshold for Bd-associated mortality might be inappropriate and misleading.

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Surveillance and monitoring of wildlife diseases

Cited by 166 publications

References 20 publications

Devastating Transboundary Impacts of Sea Star Wasting Disease on Subtidal Asteroids

Devastating Transboundary Impacts of Sea Star Wasting Disease on Subtidal Asteroids

Diseases shared between wildlife and livestock: a European perspective

Assessing the ability of swab data to determine the true burden of infection for the amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

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