Brucellosis is a disease of veterinary and public health importance worldwide. In sub- Saharan Africa, where this disease has been detected in several free-ranging wildlife species, successful disease control may be dependent on accurate detection in wildlife reservoirs, including African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). This study estimates the sensitivity and specificity...
Most wild animals face concurrent challenges by multiple
infectious organisms, and immunological responses triggered by
some parasites may increase susceptibility to other infectious agents.
Immune-mediated interactions among parasites have been investigated
among individuals in a population, but less is known about
broader comparative patterns. We investigated the “macro-micro facilitation
hypothesis”...
1. Chronic infections may have negative impacts on wildlife populations, yet their effects are difficult to detect in the absence of long-term population monitoring. Brucella abortus, the bacteria responsible for bovine brucellosis, causes chronic infections and abortions in wild and domestic ungulates, but its impact on population dynamics is not...
1. Chronic infections may have negative impacts on wildlife populations, yet their effects are difficult to detect in the absence of long-term population monitoring. Brucella abortus, the bacteria responsible for bovine brucellosis, causes chronic infections and abortions in wild and domestic ungulates, but its impact on population dynamics is not...
Disease dilution (reduced disease prevalence with increasing biodiversity) has been described for
many different pathogens. Although the mechanisms causing this phenomenon remain unclear,
the disassembly of communities to predictable subsets of species, which can be caused by
changing climate, land use, or invasive species, underlie one important hypothesis. In this...
Animal and plant species differ dramatically in their quality as hosts for multi-host pathogens, but the causes of this variation are poorly understood. A group of small mammals, including small rodents and shrews, are among the most competent natural reservoirs for three tick-borne zoonotic pathogens, Borrelia burgdorferi, Babesia microti, and...
Pathogens often have negative effects on wildlife populations, and disease management strategies are important for mitigating opportunities for pathogen transmission. Bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis; BTB) is widespread among African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) populations in southern Africa, and strategies for managing this disease vary. In two high profile parks, Kruger National...
The ubiquity and importance of parasite co-infections in populations of free-living animals is beginning to be recognized, but few studies have demonstrated differential fitness effects of single infection versus co-infection in free-living populations. We investigated interactions between the emerging bacterial disease bovine tuberculosis (BTB) and the previously existing viral disease...
We consider computational modeling of flow with small and large velocities at
porescale and at corescale, and we address various challenges in simulation, upscaling, and modeling.
While our focus is on voxel-based data sets from real porous media imaging, our methodology is
verified first on synthetic geometries, and we analyze...
Stuck and slow fermentations are a major concern of winemakers. If the levels of fermentable nitrogen in juice are too low, fermentations will be slower and may stop or 'stick' before all the fermentable sugar is utilized by the yeast. Sluggish and stuck fermentations are also sometimes accompanied by production...