Download or read book Winter Feeding of Elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Its Effects on Disease Dynamics written by Gavin G. Cotterill and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing food to wildlife during periods when natural food is limited results in aggregations that may facilitate disease transmission. This is exemplified in western Wyoming where institutional feeding over the past century has aimed to mitigate wildlife?livestock conflict and minimize winter mortality of elk (Cervus canadensis). Here we review research across 23 winter feedgrounds where the most studied disease is brucellosis, caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus. Traditional veterinary practices (vaccination, test-and-slaughter) have thus far been unable to control this disease in elk, which can spill over to cattle. Current disease-reduction efforts are being guided by ecological research on elk movement and density, reproduction, stress, co-infections and scavengers. Given the right tools, feedgrounds could provide opportunities for adaptive management of brucellosis through regular animal testing and populationlevel manipulations. Our analyses of several such manipulations highlight the value of a research?management partnership guided by hypothesis testing, despite the constraints of the sociopolitical environment. However, brucellosis is now spreading in unfed elk herds, while other diseases (e.g. chronic wasting disease) are of increasing concern at feedgrounds. Therefore experimental closures of feedgrounds, reduced feeding and lower elk populations merit consideration. This article is part of the theme issue ?Anthropogenic resource subsidies and host ?parasite dynamics in wildlife?.
Download or read book Effects of Management and Climate on Elk Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem written by Paul C. Cross and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every winter, government agencies feed ~6000 metric tons (6 ? 10^6 kg) of hay to elk in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) to limit transmission of Brucella abortus, the causative agent of brucellosis, from elk to cattle. Supplemental feeding, however, is likely to increase the transmission of brucellosis in elk, and may be affected by climatic factors, such as snowpack. We assessed these possibilities using snowpack and feeding data from 1952 to 2006 and disease testing data from 1993 to 2006. Brucellosis seroprevalence was strongly correlated with the timing of the feeding season. Longer feeding seasons were associated with higher seroprevalence, but elk population size and density had only minor effects. In other words, the duration of host aggregation and whether it coincided with peak transmission periods was more important than just the host population size. Accurate modeling of disease transmission depends upon incorporating information on how host contact rates fluctuate over time relative to peak transmission periods. We also found that supplemental feeding seasons lasted longer during years with deeper snowpack. Therefore, milder winters and/or management strategies that reduce the length of the feeding season may reduce the seroprevalence of brucellosis in the elk populations of the southern GYE.
Download or read book Influences of Supplemental Feeding on Winter Elk Calf cow Ratios in the Southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem written by Aaron M. Foley and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several elk herds in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are fed during winter to alleviate interactions with livestock, reduce damage to stored crops, and to manage for high elk numbers. The effects of supplemental feeding on ungulate population dynamics has rarely been examined, despite the fact that supplemental feeding is partially justified as necessary for maintaining or enhancing population growth rates. We used linear regression to assess how the presence of feedgrounds, snowpack, summer rainfall, indices of grizzly bear density and wolves per elk, elk population trend counts, brucellosis seroprevalence, and survey date were correlated with midwinter calf:cow ratios, a metric correlated with population growth, from 1983?2010 from 12 ecologically similar elk herd units (7 fed and 5 unfed) in Wyoming, USA. Our statistical approach allowed for rigorous tests of the hypotheses that supplemental feeding had positive effects on calf:cow ratios and reduced sensitivity of calf:cow ratios to bottom-up limitation relative to top-down limitation from native predators. Calf:cow ratios generally declined across all herd units over the study period and varied widely among units with feedgrounds. We found no evidence that the presence of feedgrounds had positive effects on midwinter calf:cow ratios in Wyoming. Further, fed elk showed stronger correlations with environmental factors, whereas calf:cow ratios for unfed elk showed stronger correlations with predator indices. Although we found no consistent association between winter feeding and higher calf:cow ratios, we did not assess late winter mortality and differences in human offtake between fed and unfed regions, which remain a priority for future research. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Download or read book Wildlife Disease and Health in Conservation written by David A. Jessup and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This title explores the origins, impacts and responses to diseases that are particularly damaging, persistent and/or are currently threatening wildlife conservation"--
Download or read book Probable Causes of Increasing Brucellosis in Free ranging Elk of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem written by Paul C. Cross and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While many wildlife species are threatened, some populations have recovered from previous overexploitation, and data linking these population increases with disease dynamics are limited. We present data suggesting that free-ranging elk (Cervus elaphus) are a maintenance host for Brucella abortus in new areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Brucellosis seroprevalence in free-ranging elk increased from 0-7% in 1991-1992 to 8-20% in 2006-2007 in four of six herd units around the GYE. These levels of brucellosis are comparable to some herd units where elk are artificially aggregated on supplemental feeding grounds. There are several possible mechanisms for this increase that we evaluated using statistical and population modeling approaches. Simulations of an age-structured population model suggest that the observed levels of seroprevalence are unlikely to be sustained by dispersal from supplemental feeding areas with relatively high seroprevalence or an older age structure. Increases in brucellosis seroprevalence and the total elk population size in areas with feeding grounds have not been statistically detectable. Meanwhile, the rate of seroprevalence increase outside the feeding grounds was related to the population size and density of each herd unit. Therefore, the data suggest that enhanced elk-to-elk transmission in free-ranging populations may be occurring due to larger winter elk aggregations. Elk populations inside and outside of the GYE that traditionally did not maintain brucellosis may now be at risk due to recent population increases. In particular, some neighboring populations of Montana elk were 5-9 times larger in 2007 than in the 1970s, with some aggregations comparable to the Wyoming feeding-ground populations. Addressing the unintended consequences of these increasing populations is complicated by limited hunter access to private lands, which places many ungulate populations out of administrative control. Agency-landowner hunting access partnerships and the protection of large predators are two management strategies that may be used to target high ungulate densities in private refuges and reduce the current and future burden of disease.
Download or read book Land Use Diversification and Intensification on Elk Winter Range in Greater Yellowstone Framework and Agenda for Social Ecological Research written by Julia Hobson Haggerty and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amenity migration describes themovement of peoples to rural landscapes and the transition toward tourismand recreation and away from production-oriented land uses (ranching, timber harvesting). The resulting mosaic of land uses and community structures has important consequences for wildlife and their management. This research note examines amenity-driven changes to social-ecological systems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, specifically in lower elevations that serve as winter habitat for elk. We present a research agenda informed by a preliminary and exploratory mixed-methods investigation: the creation of a ?social-impact? index of land use change on elk winter range and a focus group with wildlife management experts. Our findings suggest that elk are encountering an increasingly diverse landscape with respect to land use, while new ownership patterns increase the complexity of social and community dynamics. These factors, in turn, contribute to increasing difficulty meeting wildlife management objectives. To deal with rising complexity across social and ecological landscapes of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, future research will focus on property life cycle dynamics, as well as systems approaches.
Download or read book Elk Management and Policy in Southern Greater Yellowstone written by Susan G. Clark and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA, is recognized globally as a model for land and wildlife conservation, management, and policy. A major policy problem in the region is the highly contentious winter feeding of elk (Cervus elaphus) on 23 government feed grounds in western Wyoming through cooperative management under several state and federal agencies. Numerous non-governmental groups and concerned citizens are also affected by elk management or seek to contribute to management policies. The long-term controversy shows that this issue centers on how management and policy should be made and who should be involved in decision-making?the constitutive policy process. This paper examines and appraises the constitutive process in this case, including how competency, authority, and control are allocated. It also looks at how institutions, analytic techniques, procedures, and people are structured, selected, and included or excluded in decision-making processes. Our data come from a multi-method approach over the past decade, including participant-observation, historical literature, interviews, media analysis, and technical reports. Our analysis shows that institutional dynamics severely constrain the scope of deliberations, the production of practical problem definitions, and the search for improvements in elk management. We recommend that participants focus on the constitutive level of policy making, i.e., the underlying structure and functioning of policy processes, learn how these elements function and affect processes and outcomes, and learn to configure them in ways that embody democratic principles, serve common interests, and resolve policy problems.
Download or read book The Effects of Supplemental Feeding on Stress Hormone Concentrations in Elk written by Victoria Elizabeth Patrek and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On twenty-two feedgrounds in western Wyoming, elk (Cervus elaphus) are provided with supplemental feed throughout the winter. Brucellosis seroprevalence of feedground elk is 26% whereas other elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have historically had a brucellosis seroprevalence of 2-3%. The aggregation of elk during peak transmission allows brucellosis to persist in the feedground populations. In addition to creating the opportunity for disease transmission, the aggregation of elk on feedgrounds may have detrimental physiological effects. Studies have shown that chronically high stress hormone concentrations can suppress the immune system and lead to increased disease susceptibility. Potential stressors on the feedgrounds include high densities, large group sizes and aggressive social interactions. In this study I investigated how factors associated with supplemental feeding affect stress hormone levels, as indexed by fecal glucocorticoid levels, in elk on feedgrounds and elk on native winter range. I also worked with managers to experimentally alter the feeding distribution on the feedgrounds to examine how feeding density affects stress hormone levels and aggression rates. Results show that elk on feedgrounds have stress hormone levels 31% higher than elk on native winter range (Welch's t2--.23=2.39, p=0.024). Experimental reduction of feed density did not have an effect on stress hormone level or aggression rates. But note the relationship between fGCs and local densities here. Although the feeding treatments did appear to reduce local feeding densities, s this effect was not significant and was small relative to the large differences in density among sites. Regardless as to the cause of the high stress hormone levels seen in supplementally fed elk, the feedgrounds are creating an epidemiological setting for disease transmission and a physiological state that may increase susceptibility to disease. The impact of these stress hormone concentrations on disease susceptibility remains unknown, but may be an important driver of disease dynamics in these elk populations.
Download or read book The Ecology of Large Mammals in Central Yellowstone written by Robert A. Garrott and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2008-11-25 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an authoritative work on the ecology of some of America’s most iconic large mammals in a natural environment - and of the interplay between climate, landscape, and animals in the interior of the world’s first and most famous national park.Central Yellowstone includes the range of one of the largest migratory populations of bison in North America as well as a unique elk herd that remains in the park year round. These populations live in a varied landscape with seasonal and often extreme patterns of climate and food abundance. The reintroduction of wolves into the park a decade ago resulted in scientific and public controversy about the effect of large predators on their prey, a debate closely examined in the book. Introductory chapters describe the geography, geology and vegetation of the ecosystem. The elk and bison are then introduced and their population ecology described both pre- and post– wolf introduction, enabling valuable insights into the demographic and behavioral consequences for their ungulate prey. Subsequent chapters describe the wildlife-human interactions and show how scientific research can inform the debate and policy issues surrounding winter recreation in Yellowstone. The book closes with a discussion of how this ecological knowledge can be used to educate the public, both about Yellowstone itself and about science, ecology and the environment in general. Yellowstone National Park exemplifies some of the currently most hotly debated and high-profile ecological, wildlife management, and environmental policy issues and this book will have broad appeal not only to academic ecologists, but also to natural resource students, managers, biologists, policy makers, administrators and the general public. Unrivalled descriptions of ecological processes in a world famous ecosystem, based on information from 16 years of painstaking field work and collaborations among 66 scientists and technical experts and 15 graduate studies Detailed studies of two charismatic North American herbivore species – elk and bison Description of the restoration of wolves into central Yellowstone and their ecological interactions with their elk and bison prey Illustrated with numerous evocative colour photographs and stunning maps
Download or read book Winter Nutritional Restriction and Simulated Body Condition of Yellowstone Elk and Bison Before and After the Fires of 1988 written by Glenn David DelGiudice and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bovine Brucellosis in Elk written by E. Tom Thorne and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bovine brucellosis is prevalent in elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) of northwestern Wyoming and occurs rarely in elk of northern Yellowstone National Park and some neighboring parts of Montana. Occurrence of brucellosis in Wyoming is a consequence of supplemental winter feeding as a substitute for natural winter ranges, to control depredation, and reduce winter mortalities. Presence of the disease in elk of northern Yellowstone may reflect their association with infected bison and interchange with fed elk populations. A cooperative brucellosis eradication program has made considerable progress toward eliminating the causative organism from the United States; cattle in all three states surrounding the Greater Yellowstone Area are now free of the disease. With eradication possible in the not too distant future, wildlife populations harboring brucellosis are being placed on a bio-political collision course with the brucellolsis eradication program, state and Federal livestock industries, and western grazing practices. Extreme solutions are depopulation of elk and bison (Bison bison) within the Greater Yellowstone Area on one hand and elimination of cattle grazing from the ecosystem on the other, neither being acceptable. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has chosen more moderate, yet effective, methods of dealing with the problem including vaccination of fed elk, attempting to reduce reliance of elk on supplemental feed through habitat improvement and acquisition, and maintaining separation between cattle and elk during high risk transmission periods. However, cooperative efforts by all involved parties throughout the Greater Yellowstone Area will be required to minimize impacts to all affected resources and interest groups.
Download or read book Elk Winter Range and Calving Areas written by Greater Yellowstone Conservation Data Center and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report represents the culmination of a year-long effort to consolidate spatial information on elk winter ranges and calving areas from the six USFS and two NPS units of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Download or read book Yellowstone Bison written by Patrick James White and published by . This book was released on 2015-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks N P Winter Use Plans written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Disease Ecology Novel Concepts and Methods to Track and Forecast Disease Emergence Transmission Spread and Endemization written by Vincent Obanda and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-10-14 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Yellowstone s Destabilized Ecosystem written by Frederic H. Wagner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-05-25 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The beloved Yellowstone National Park underwent a management shift in 1969 that drastically altered its landscape. This book comes at a time when scientific results are sometimes withheld so that they do not challenge policy positions. The author charges that Yellowstone-supported research has produced a faulty ecological paradigm, whether consciously or not, in order to maintain status quo of the Park's "natural-regulation" policy." "Wagner's ecosystem model of the Park's northern range focuses on a low-elevation region of the Park where a large herd of Rocky Mountain elk winters. His study spans 132 years of ecological, hydrologic, archaeological, photographic, and historic evidence and synthesizes the herd's impact over time."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Revisiting Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2021-01-30 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brucellosis is a nationally and internationally regulated disease of livestock with significant consequences for animal health, public health, and international trade. In cattle, the primary cause of brucellosis is Brucella abortus, a zoonotic bacterial pathogen that also affects wildlife, including bison and elk. As a result of the Brucellosis Eradication Program that began in 1934, most of the country is now free of bovine brucellosis. The Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA), where brucellosis is endemic in bison and elk, is the last known B. abortus reservoir in the United States. The GYA is home to more than 5,500 bison that are the genetic descendants of the original free-ranging bison herds that survived in the early 1900s, and home to more than 125,000 elk whose habitats are managed through interagency efforts, including the National Elk Refuge and 22 supplemental winter feedgrounds maintained in Wyoming. In 1998 the National Research Council (NRC) issued a report, Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area, that reviewed the scientific knowledge regarding B. abortus transmission among wildlifeâ€"particularly bison and elkâ€"and cattle in the GYA. Since the release of the 1998 report, brucellosis has re-emerged in domestic cattle and bison herds in that area. Given the scientific and technological advances in two decades since that first report, Revisiting Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area explores the factors associated with the increased transmission of brucellosis from wildlife to livestock, the recent apparent expansion of brucellosis in non-feedground elk, and the desire to have science inform the course of any future actions in addressing brucellosis in the GYA.
