Virus in maine wild turkey population

Having a challenge and being able to collaborate with my mentor and her students to do something that has never before been done has been an exciting and extremely valuable experience thus far. This blog post was authored by a student participating in the Research Experience for Undergraduates — Accelerating New Environmental Workskills program , which is led by faculty in the Initiative for One Health and the Environmental and funded by the National Science Foundation.

Information in this post does not represent the University of Maine or its faculty. College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. Tel: Habitat quality is an important consideration when making decisions regarding management and conservation.

In an effort to make a full assessment of wild turkey nesting habitat, we will observe how hens select different nest site characteristics and how that selection affects their nesting success. We will also quantify variability among individuals by including observations of hen movement behavior to determine how behavioral traits, such as when turkeys leave their winter range or how far they travel for nesting, can impact their nest success.

Risk factors, distribution, and transmission dynamics of LPDV. We collect whole blood from each turkey to test for a virus called Lymphoproliferative Disease Virus LDPV that was originally detected in wild turkeys in the United States in Once turkeys are identified as either infected or uninfected, we can begin to explore the potential for individual risk factors such as age and sex.

We can also identify the distribution of the pathogen and determine if infection varies across habitat and land-use gradients to identify spatial areas of concern. The blood samples will also be used to obtain LPDV genetic sequence data from each infected turkey, which will allow us to identify strain diversity to explore transmission dynamics across the landscape through strain and geographic relatedness.

Health and population impact. We will be taking an additional blood sample serum to assess whether LPDV infection predisposes individual wild turkeys to other pathogens, which may affect individual health.

Among the parasites that affect wild turkeys are cestodes tapeworms are one form , trematodes and nematodes. They also harbor external parasites such as ticks, mites and feather lice. The external parasites can impact the health of individual turkeys when they are stressed or when food is in short supply. However, most wild turkeys are healthy enough to withstand the normal external parasite load. Wild turkeys do get sick and some die.

There will always be small losses of wild turkeys to diseases in any given year. However, disease generally does not play a major role in limiting wild turkey populations.

So when someone asks you if large numbers of wild turkeys will increase the incidence of disease and decimate the flocks, you can be pretty confident it is unlikely. Diseases that affect wild turkeys are not a threat to people or domestic animals. If you ever harvest a wild turkey that appears to be acting strangely or seems to be ill, keep it cold, not frozen, and get it to your state wildlife agency for examination.

Become a Member Make a Donation Shop. Hunt Wild Turkeys. Shake the disease Avian pox is a viral disease that accounts for nearly one quarter of the diagnoses of sick or dying wild turkeys examined in the southeastern United States.

Parasitic relationships Wildlife experts are monitoring this and other diseases carefully. Good news for you Wild turkeys do get sick and some die. All About Wild Turkeys. Learn to Hunt. DIY Projects. In addition, the health of the wild turkey population itself is of interest to recreational hunters, and Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for management and economic reasons.

Over the last two years 70 live and 55 dead or euthanized wild turkeys were sampled for exposure to a wide variety of pathogens. Screening included tests for common poultry pathogens such as salmonella, Mycoplasma species, avian influenza, and blood parasites. Our results show that Maine wild turkeys have a high prevalence of Mycoplasma exposure and Leukocytozoon blood parasites in our samples.