Julia S Lankton
Biography
Julia Lankton is a wildlife pathologist at the USGS-National Wildlife Health Center. She attended veterinary school at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, completed her pathology residency at the University of Tennessee, and worked as clinical instructor and pathology fellow at the University of Florida and Disneyworld, before joining USGS in 2013. Her interests include environmental toxicology and the relationship between contaminants and disease in wildlife health.
Education
Residency, Anatomic Pathology, University of Tennessee, 2009-2012
DVM, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, 2009
BA English, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1996
Professional Experience
2013-present: Wildlife Pathologist, USGS-NWHC
2012-2013: Clinical Instructor, Anatomic Pathology, University of Florida and Disney's Animal Kingdom
Affiliations
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Pathologists
Science and Products
National Wildlife Health Center — Madison, Wisconsin
About the Laboratory
The National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) provides the services of board-certified veterinary pathologists specializing in gross and microscopic assessment of animal tissues to help understand the impacts of contaminants on wildlife species. The NWHC also offers real-time reporting of wildlife mortality events and maintains an extensive database of...
Necropsy & Pathology
The Necropsy and Pathology capabilities are performed by diagnostic veterinary pathologists and necropsy technical staff whose principal role is to determine the cause of death for animals submitted to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC). These scientists examine carcasses to verify species and condition, collect and process photographic and radiographic images, conduct detailed...
Virally-vectored vaccine candidates against white-nose syndrome induce anti-fungal immune response in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus)
White-nose syndrome (WNS) caused by the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) has killed millions of North American hibernating bats. Currently, methods to prevent the disease are limited. We conducted two trials to assess potential WNS vaccine candidates in wild-caught Myotis lucifugus. In a pilot study, we immunized bats with...
Rocke, Tonie E.; Kingstad-Bakke, Brock; Wuthrich, Marcel; Stading, Ben; Abbott, Rachel C.; Isidoro Ayza, Marcos; Dobson, Hannah E.; dos Santos Dias, Lucas; Galles, Kevin; Lankton, Julia S.; Falendysz, Elizabeth; Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Fites, J. Scott; Lopera-Madrid, Jaime; Klein, Bruce; Osorio, Jorge E.; White, J. Paul Mortality due to Tyzzer's disease of muskrats in northern Ohio, USA
In 2017, we investigated a mortality event of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in Northwest Ohio, USA, and determined the causes of death to be from Tyzzer's disease due to Clostridium piliforme and Klebsiella pneumoniae septicemia. The gross presentation resembled tularemia, which highlighted the importance of a complete...
Grear, Daniel A.; Lankton, Julia S.; Zaleski, Sara; Witt, Mark; Lorch, Jeffrey M. Assessment of chronic low‐dose elemental and radiological exposures of biota at the Kanab North uranium mine site in the Grand Canyon watershed
High‐grade U ore deposits are in various stages of exploitation across the Grand Canyon watershed, yet the effects of U mining on ecological and cultural resources are largely unknown. We characterized the concentrations of Al, As, Bi, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Pb, Hg, Mo, Ni, Se, Ag, Tl, Th, U, and Zn, gross alpha and beta activities, and U and Th...
Cleveland, Danielle; Hinck, Jo Ellen; Lankton, Julia S. Chiroptera
With over 1300 species identified, bats represent almost one quarter of the world’s mammals (Fenton and Simmons 2014), bats provide important environmental services such as insect pest suppression, seed dispersal, and pollination and inhabit a wide variety of ecological niches on all continents except Antarctica. Over 150 species are listed as...
Farina, Lisa L.; Lankton, Julia S. Green tree frog (Hyla cinerea) and ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus spilosoma) mortality attributed to inland brevetoxin transportation at Padre Island National Seashore, Texas, 2015
On 16 September 2015, a red tide (Karenia brevis) bloom impacted coastal areas of Padre Island National Seashore Park. Two days later and about 0.9 km inland, 30–40 adult green tree frogs (Hyla cinerea) were found dead after displaying tremors, weakness, labored breathing, and other signs of neurologic impairment. A rainstorm, accompanied by high...
Buttke, Danielle E.; Walker, Alicia; Huang, I-Shuo; Flewelling, Leanne; Lankton, Julia S.; Ballmann, Anne E.; Clapp, Travis; Lindsay, James; Zimba, Paul V. Natural infections with Pigeon Paramyxovirus-1: Pathologic changes in Eurasian collared-doves (Streptopelia decaocto) and rock pigeons (Columba livia) in the USA: Data
We reviewed pathological findings and to a lesser extent epidemiological data from 70 free-ranging columbiforms naturally infected with Pigeon paramyxovirus-1 (PPMV-1) from 25 different PPMV-1 mortality events in columbiforms in the USA. In a subset of 17 birds from 10 of the studied outbreaks, we carried out immunohistochemistry targeting PPMV-1...
Isidoro-Ayza, Marcos; Lankton, Julia S.; Knowles, Susan N.; Ip, Hon S.; White, C. LeAnn Natural infections with pigeon paramyxovirus serotype 1: Pathologic changes in Eurasian collared-doves (Streptopelia decaocto) and rock pigeons (Columba livia) in the United States
Pigeon paramyxovirus serotype 1 (PPMV-1) is a globally distributed, virulent member of the avian paramyxovirus serotype 1 serogroup that causes mortality in columbiformes and poultry. Following introduction into the United States in the mid-1980s, PPMV-1 rapidly spread causing numerous mortality events in Eurasian collared-doves (Streptopelia...
Isidoro Ayza, Marcos; Afonso, C.L.; Stanton, J.B.; Knowles, Susan; Ip, Hon S.; White, C. LeAnn; Fenton, Heather; Ruder, M.G.; Dolinski, A. C.; Lankton, Julia S. Pre-mining trace element and radiation exposure to biota from a breccia pipe uranium mine in the Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA) watershed
The risks to wildlife and humans from uranium (U) mining in the Grand Canyon watershed are largely unknown. In addition to U, other co-occurring ore constituents contribute to risks to biological receptors depending on their toxicological profiles. This study characterizes the pre-mining concentrations of total arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (...
Hinck, Jo Ellen; Cleveland, Danielle; Brumbaugh, William G.; Linder, Greg; Lankton, Julia S. Chemistry, radiation and histopathology data in support of manuscript "Pre-mining trace element and radiation exposure to biota from a breccia pipe uranium mine in the Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA) watershed"
The risks to wildlife and humans from uranium (U) mining to the Grand Canyon watershed are largely unknown. In addition to U, other co-occurring ore constituents contribute to risks to biological receptors depending on their toxicological profiles. This data was collected to characterize the pre-mining concentrations of total arsenic (As), cadmium...
Hinck, Jo E.; Cleveland, Danielle; Lankton, Julia S. Snake fungal disease: An emerging threat to wild snakes
Since 2006, there has been a marked increase in the number of reports of severe and often fatal fungal skin infections in wild snakes in the eastern USA. The emerging condition, referred to as snake fungal disease (SFD), was initially documented in rattlesnakes, where the infections were believed to pose a risk to the viability of affected...
Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Knowles, Susan; Lankton, Julia S.; Michell, Kathy; Edwards, Jaime L.; Kapfer, Joshua M.; Staffen, Richard A.; Wild, Erik R.; Schmidt, Katie Z.; Ballmann, Anne; Blodgett, Doug; Farrell, Terence M.; Glorioso, Brad M.; Last, Lisa A.; Price, Steven J.; Schuler, Krysten L.; Smith, Christopher; Wellehan, James F. X.; Blehert, David S. Experimental infection of snakes with Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola causes pathological changes that typify snake fungal disease
Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging skin infection of wild snakes in eastern North America. The fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola is frequently associated with the skin lesions that are characteristic of SFD, but a causal relationship between the fungus and the disease has not been established. We experimentally infected captive-...
Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Lankton, Julia S.; Werner, Katrien; Falendysz, Elizabeth A.; McCurley, Kevin; Blehert, David S.