DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Disease Ecology of Bolivian Carnivores

论文研究：玻利维亚食肉动物的疾病生态学

• 批准号: 0309304
• 负责人: Don Melnick
• 金额: $ 0.49万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0309304&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Disease; Ecology; Bolivian

The distribution of pathogens and their impact on the population dynamics of wildlife are areas of increasing interest in the ecological and conservation communities. Mammalian carnivores may be especially vulnerable to the effects of disease because they are rare, have complex social interactions, and are closely related to two domestic species, dogs and cats, which are subsidized by humans and thus live at high densities. We know that disease outbreaks in carnivore populations have sometimes resulted in measurable population declines and extinctions, but we don't know how commonly this occurs and how much effort should be exerted to prevent it. In many regions, we cannot assess the risk of disease spillover, as data on baseline levels of disease exposure do not exist. In an attempt to address these issues, this study will investigate the disease ecology of carnivores in the Chaco, a tropical dry forest in South America.Despite the arid climate, the Chaco of Bolivia has a surprising diversity of carnivores. It is home to numerous threatened and endangered felids, including jaguars, ocelots, margays, and Geoffroy's cats. Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park, a large protected area in Bolivia, was established to safeguard these species, as well as other fauna such as the endemic Chacoan (or giant) peccary. The Park is contiguous with an indigenous territory that is titled to the Izoceno people. The Izocenos use this area extensively for hunting and resource extraction, and nearly all hunting involves dogs. This means that hunting dogs are entering the forest along the border of the park on a daily basis. Our goals with this project are to identify which diseases are present in the hunting dog population, quantify the opportunities that exist for contact between dogs and wild carnivores, and determine if wild carnivores living in the buffer zone surrounding the park are more likely to have been exposed to disease than those living inside the park.Working with Bolivian biologists and indigenous parabiologists, we are sampling domestic dogs and wild carnivores in the Izoceno communities, in the buffer zone, and inside the park. In addition, we are conducting interviews with the Izocenos to learn more about hunting dog demographics and ecology. We want to ascertain how often dogs enter the forest, where they go, and how long they stay there. We are also trying to get basic information about how long dogs live, how they die, and the turnover of the population. Preliminary data show that these dogs have a short lifespan, and a very high neonatal mortality rate. We are also collecting information about diseases that can be transmitted to humans. Our hope is that this project will ultimately allow us to make recommendations that will improve the health of the hunting dogs, improve the health of the humans, and protect the health of the wildlife.

病原体的分布及其对野生动植物种群动态的影响是对生态和保护群落兴趣越来越多的领域。哺乳动物食肉动物可能特别容易受到疾病的影响，因为它们罕见，具有复杂的社交相互作用，并且与两种由人类补贴并因此生活在高密度的情况下密切相关。 我们知道，食肉动物种群中的疾病爆发有时会导致可衡量的人群下降和灭绝，但是我们不知道这种情况的发生程度以及应付出多少努力来防止这种情况。 在许多地区，我们无法评估疾病溢出的风险，因为不存在有关疾病暴露基线水平的数据。为了解决这些问题，这项研究将调查Chaco中食肉动物的疾病生态，这是南美的热带干燥森林。尽管有干旱的气候，但玻利维亚的Chaco的食肉动物具有令人惊讶的多样性。 它是众多受威胁和濒临灭绝的罪魁祸首的家园，包括美洲虎，ocelots，Margays和Geoffroy的猫。 Kaa-iya del Gran Chaco国家公园是玻利维亚的一个大型保护区，以保护这些物种，以及其他动物群，例如流行的Chacoan（或巨型）。 该公园与伊佐科诺族人的土著地区相邻。 Izocenos广泛使用该区域进行狩猎和提取资源，几乎所有狩猎都涉及狗。 这意味着狩猎狗每天都在公园边界进入森林。 我们实现该项目的目标是确定狩猎狗种群中存在哪些疾病，量化狗与野食动物之间的接触机会，并确定与居住在公园内的野生食肉动物相比，与生活在公园内的野生食肉动物相比，与生活在公园内的野生食肉动物相比，与玻利维亚的生物学家和狗的野生动物学家以及野外的帕布里群岛一起工作，我们的工作缓冲区和公园内。 此外，我们正在与Izocenos进行访谈，以了解有关狩猎狗的人口统计和生态学的更多信息。 我们想确定狗进入森林，去哪里以及它们待在那里的频率。 我们还试图获取有关狗的生存时间，它们的死亡以及人口营业额的基本信息。 初步数据表明，这些狗的寿命很短，新生儿死亡率很高。 我们还正在收集有关可以传播给人类的疾病的信息。 我们的希望是，该项目最终将使我们提出建议，以改善狩猎犬的健康，改善人类的健康并保护野生动植物的健康。