DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Disease Ecology of Bolivian Carnivores

病原体的分布及其对野生动物种群动态的影响是生态和保护界越来越感兴趣的领域。哺乳动物食肉动物可能特别容易受到疾病的影响，因为它们非常罕见，具有复杂的社会互动，并且与两种家养物种密切相关，狗和猫，它们由人类补贴，因此生活在高密度中。 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种群下降和减少，但我们不知道这种情况有多普遍，以及应该付出多大努力来预防它。在许多地区，我们无法评估疾病蔓延的风险，因为不存在疾病暴露基线水平的数据。为了解决这些问题，本研究将调查南美洲热带干旱森林查科的食肉动物的疾病生态学。尽管气候干旱，玻利维亚的查科却有着令人惊讶的食肉动物多样性。 它是许多受威胁和濒临灭绝的猫科动物的家园，包括美洲虎，虎猫，马盖和杰弗里的猫。大查科山国家公园国家公园是玻利维亚的一个大型保护区，其建立是为了保护这些物种以及其他动物群，如特有的查科（或巨型）野猪。 该公园毗邻一个土著领土，该领土被授予Izoceno人民。 伊佐塞诺斯人广泛使用这一地区进行狩猎和资源开采，几乎所有的狩猎都涉及狗。 这意味着每天都有猎狗沿着公园的边界进入森林。 我们这个项目的目标是确定猎犬种群中存在哪些疾病，量化狗和野生食肉动物之间存在的接触机会，并确定生活在公园周围缓冲区的野生食肉动物是否比生活在公园内的野生食肉动物更容易受到疾病的影响。与玻利维亚生物学家和土著共生生物学家合作，我们正在Izoceno社区，缓冲区和公园内采集家犬和野生食肉动物的样本。 此外，我们正在对Izocenos进行采访，以了解更多关于猎犬的人口统计学和生态学。 我们想确定狗多久进入一次森林，它们去哪里，以及它们在那里呆多久。 我们还试图获得有关狗的寿命、死亡方式和种群更替的基本信息。 初步数据显示，这些狗的寿命很短，新生儿死亡率很高。 我们还在收集有关可能传染给人类的疾病的信息。 我们希望这个项目最终能让我们提出建议，改善猎犬的健康，改善人类的健康，保护野生动物的健康。

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.