Terrestrial Wildlife Diseases

The Honolulu Field Station provides routine diagnostic support to state and federal agencies in order to determine cause of death in endangered and threatened native birds in Hawaii, US territories, and affiliated states in the Pacific. These activities have resulted in information that was important in the recovery of several species of endangered birds such as Laysan ducks, Nihoa millerbirds...

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease of hibernating bats that has spread from the northeastern across United States at an alarming rate.

While the Hawaiian avian disease system has been well-studied in the forests of the older section of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park (HAVO), and in many other locations throughout the state, nothing was known about avian disease in the new Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and the adjacent Kau Forest Reserve. The high elevation forests of Kahuku are the only habitat located on...

Vector-borne diseases are transmitted from one animal to another by vectors, including insects, such as mosquitoes or fleas, and arachnids, such as ticks. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center investigates wildlife diseases, including vector-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus and sylvatic plague.

Avian botulism causes waterbird mortality in Hawai‘i's wetlands and elsewhere. We will evaluate using trained scent-detection canines (sniffer dogs) as a new tool to survey for the presence of avian botulism. Biologists will compare variables influencing detection probability and detection rates with traditional search methods. The pilot study will test the feasibility of this approach as a new...

The Mojave desert tortoise is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act and faces threats from habitat loss, predators, and disease. Drs. Lizabeth Bowen and A. Keith Miles with WERC are designing new methods to determine the type and influence of stressors present in the environment for the tortoise and other wildlife.

The primary goal of this bat research program is to develop projects that increase our understanding of basic ecology and natural history of western bat species, while simultaneously providing needed data to inform conservation measures and management decisions in the West. Dr. Brian Halstead, together with Gabriel Reyes, studies the habitat and resource selection, movement ecology, demography...

Dr. Kathleen Longshore’s goal is to understand how predator/prey relationships, disease and human-caused disturbance work separately and synergistically to impact bighorn sheep populations under variable ecological stress. Information from this project will provide managers with an understanding of specific and regional impacting factors that contribute to impact variation in population trends.

WERC's sea otter researchers are developing and utilizing a variety of methodological and analytical tools to understand the causes of biological and ecological trends in sea otter populations, and to predict the ecological consequences of management practices on these populations and their ecosystems.

Environmental stressors such as contaminants and disease can cause physiological imbalance in all types of wildlife. WERC’s Drs. Lizabeth Bowen and A. Keith Miles develop gene transcription profiles to detect organisms’ physiological responses to environmental stressors and provide resource managers with early warnings for potential effects on wildlife and ecosystem health.

Over the past 20 years, Alaskans have witnessed a startling increase of beak deformities among Black-capped Chickadees and other species of resident birds. This disease, called avian keratin disorder (AKD), is characterized by debilitating beak overgrowth and other abnormalities of keratinized tissues. Affected birds have difficulty feeding and preening, and may suffer high rates of mortality.

Many of Hawai‘i’s forest birds have shown significant declines in the past 200 years, with many currently listed as endangered species. Multiple threats have been identified as contributing to declines, including disease, invasive species, habitat loss, and decreased survivorship and productivity caused by introduced predators. Demographic and ecological studies are needed to determine how...