Wildlife Disease Management Research Articles

A new trap-catch index of patchiness in animal distribution

Researchers and managers commonly use catch rates on trap-transects as an index of abundance for trappable wildlife species. We describe a method whereby the data collected from such surveys can be further analysed to obtain information on the patchiness of the trapped species' distribution on those transects. For certain applications, such as the management of wildlife disease, the index is likely to have significant advantages over traditional indices of spatial aggregation. One such situation is the management of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand to inhibit the spread of bovine tuberculosis within their populations. Trap-catch data from a possum survey are used to illustrate the proposed method, and the potential for application of such monitoring to wildlife populations is discussed.

Geographical information systems as a tool in epidemiological assessment and wildlife disease management.

Geographical information systems (GIS) facilitate the incorporation of spatial relationships into epidemiological investigations of wildlife diseases. Consisting of data input, management, analysis and presentation components, GIS act as an integrative technology in that a range of very varied data sources can be combined which describe different aspect of the environment of wild animals. The analytical functionality of GIS is still evolving, and ranges from visual to exploratory and modelling methods. Output generated by GIS in map format has the particular advantage of allowing implicit representation of spatial dependence relationships in an intuitive manner. The technology is becoming an essential component of modern disease surveillance systems.

Biotech prospects for the control of introduced mammals in Australia.

More than twenty exotic vertebrate species are now listed as pests in Australia. Collectively, these pests have a huge economic and environmental impact and pose a major threat to Australia's ecosystems and unique biodiversity. Management of such pests on a continental scale is a major challenge. Recent advances in biotechnology suggest alternatives to the lethal diseases normally sought for use as biological control agents. One proposal, being investigated in the Pest Animal Control Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra, is the use of biotechnology to develop a new generation of agents that act through controlling reproduction to prevent the build up of pest populations. The core concept is fertility control through immunocontraceptive vaccines delivered by viruses that specifically infect the target pest population. Proof of this exciting concept has been obtained for the mouse and, very recently, the rabbit, and a candidate vaccine vector identified for the fox, portending better control of a trio of Australia's most pervasive pests. Other advances in biotechnology suggest ways to negate the build up of both innate and acquired immune resistance in target pest populations that normally act to limit the efficacy and effective life of biocontrol agents in the field. Prospects for extending the use of virally vectored vaccines to the field management of wildlife diseases are also identified. Targets for such vaccines include a growing suite of emerging diseases, hosted by Australia's wildlife, which pose a threat to human and livestock health. Numerous technical challenges remain to be addressed before any of these new agents are ready for use in the field. However, the major risk to their development is now no longer viewed as being technical, but the failure to gain public acceptance for their use in the field. This already significant risk is exasperated by the present heightened level of public concern about all introductions of genetically modified organisms.

Sharing the earth: the rhetoric of sustainable development

A critical look at the discourse surrounding a widely promoted means of environmentally sensitive economic developmentAn important contribution by widening the area of 'applied communication' research-to include the linguistic forces that would define in technocratic or humanistic rhetorics. -- J. Robert Cox, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillA provocative use of rhetorical methodology, topical ecological subject, and discourse analysis. In this sense, (Sharing the Earth) is a pioneering scholarly effort. -- Thomas Farrell, Northwestern UniversityIn Sharing the Earth, Tarla Rai Peterson explains how sustainable development -- a highly provocative concept that promises to unite environmental and economic concerns in achieving ecological integrity -- is understood, discussed, and implemented within specific communities. By analyzing the rhetoric of those who define and advocate its implementation, she identifies points of tension among the term's various interpretations and explores how the concept may be brought to bear in resolving conflicts, furthering research, and establishing ecologically sound public policy.In the first of three case studies, Peterson explores the construction of at the Earth Summit Meeting of 1992. She contends that while the summit model captures a global perspective on the subject, it fails to explain what means to the local communities where it will be implemented. In the second case study, which highlights the struggle entailed in deciding who sets the agenda for development, she contrasts the Canadian government'srecommendations for wildlife disease management in Wood Buffalo National Park with the model preferred by local residents. In the final case study, Peterson relies primarily on interviews with residents of the U.S.-Mexico border embroiled in a bitter controversy over the impact of industrial on human health. She uses the case study to clarify the communication dynamics involved when community members choose which elements of their world are most essential to sustain, which are most essential to develop, and how these elements interrelate.