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日益关注的领域。哺乳动物食肉动物可能特别容易受到疾病的影响，因为它们很罕见，具有复杂的社会互动，并且与两个家养物种--狗和猫--关系密切，这两个物种得到人类的补贴，因此生活在高密度。我们知道，食肉动物种群中的疾病爆发有时会导致可测量的种群数量下降和灭绝，但我们不知道这种情况发生的频率有多高，以及应该付出多大努力来防止这种情况发生。在许多地区，我们无法评估疾病溢出的风险，因为没有关于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燥森林查科的食肉动物的疾病生态学。尽管气候干燥，玻利维亚查科的食肉动物却令人惊讶地多样化。它是许多受威胁和濒危猫科动物的家园，包括美洲豹、豹猫、玛格雷和杰弗罗伊的猫。Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco国家公园是玻利维亚的一个大保护区，它的建立是为了保护这些物种以及其他动物，如地方性的查科(或巨人)。该公园毗邻一块土著领土，名为Izoceno人。Izocenos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犬进入公园边界的森林。我们这个项目的目标是确定猎犬种群中存在哪些疾病，量化狗与野生食肉动物接触的机会，并确定生活在公园周围缓冲区的野生食肉动物是否比公园内的那些更有可能接触到疾病。我们与玻利维亚生物学家和土著寄生虫学家合作，正在Izoceno社区、缓冲区和公园内对家犬和野生食肉动物进行采样。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和生态。我们想要确定狗多久进入森林一次，它们去哪里，它们在那里呆多长时间。我们还试图获得有关狗的寿命、死亡方式和种群周转的基本信息。初步数据显示，这些狗寿命短，新生儿死亡率很高。我们还在收集有关可传播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.