Provides wildlife professionals with cutting-edge scientific information on the most damaging and newly emerging wildlife diseases. Wildlife diseases and their implications are at the forefront of many sectors of scientific endeavor, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 60 percent of all human diseases and 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. Edited by pioneering wildlife veterinarians David A. Jessup and Robin W. Radcliffe, Wildlife Disease and Health in Conservation explores the origins and impacts of as well as the responses to the most damaging and persistent diseases currently threatening wildlife conservation. Focusing mainly on newer, invasive, and controversial wildlife health challenges, this book also reexamines classic diseases that provide warnings and important lessons for wildlife professionals and policy makers. Each chapter offers cutting-edge scientific information and extensive references to help readers plan for, respond to, and conduct research on these serious health challenges. This book: • Reports crucial findings on newly emerging diseases and how to recognize and manage them • Explores the health of critical but often neglected aquatic ecosystems, including both vertebrate and invertebrate examples • Covers a vast diversity of wildlife health threats, from epizootic bighorn sheep pneumonia and African swine fever to sea star wasting disease, avian influenza, and rabbit hemorrhagic disease • Explains zoonotic dangers to humans, including coronaviruses • Includes information on marine and aquatic species, wild ungulate species, carnivores and omnivores, birds, and more • Provides insight into the social, legal, financial, and political factors that may override or influence conservation priorities in response to biomedical challenges Featuring detailed and attractive field notes–style illustrations by Laura Donohue and essential essays from experts in the field, Wildlife Disease and Health in Conservation combines theory and practice to inform and inspire wildlife health and conservation.

Foundations of Wildlife Diseases is a comprehensive overview of the basic principles that govern the study of wildlife diseases. The authors integrate theoretical foundations with a thorough examination of the factors that can affect the health and fitness of animals. They include specific information on a wide array of infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, arthropods, fungi, protista, and helminths, as well as immunity to these agents. Also provided is a foundation for the study of noninfectious diseases, cancers, and prion diseases that affect wildlife. Supporting students, faculty, and researchers in areas related to wildlife management, biology, and veterinary sciences, this volume fills an important gap in wildlife disease resources, focusing on mammalian and avian wildlife while also considering reptiles and amphibians. Foundations of Wildlife Diseases provides students with a structure for thinking about and understanding infective agents and their interactions with wildlife. Each chapter includes an outline, select definitions and concepts, an overview and summary, and literature cited.

The study of epidemiology is an essential part of understanding how infectious diseases emerge, and how they affect humans, wildlife and wildlife conservation. The integration of modelling techniques with parasitology and population dynamics has been hugely significant for our understanding of disease dynamics. This book on wildlife epidemiology brings the subject right up to date, covering the most recent empirical and theoretical developments in the field.

Gary Wobeser's successful book from 1994 has been completely updated and enlarged in a new second edition. An in-depth overview of the available techniques for the investigation and management of disease in free-ranging animals is provided. The subjects are illustrated with examples drawn from around the world, with emphasis on the special requirements involved in working with wild animals. The book draws on the author’s training as a wildlife biologist.

In recent years nobody could have failed to notice the frequent and often sensati- alist media headlines warning of the latest global disease threat to humankind. But behind all the hyperbole lie real challenges related to dealing with the increasing incidence of emerging zoonotic disease events, the majority of which are thought to originate in wildlife (Jones et al. 2008). There are also many important diseases of domestic livestock which also occur in wildlife (e. g. foot and mouth disease and classical swine fever in wild boar, bovine tuberculosis in deer, badgers or possums), some of which can have a devastating impact on the farming industry, the wider rural economy and ultimately the public purse. But we should also not forget that wildlife diseases may have serious implications for the conservation of biodiversity. For some of the rarest, most endangered species (such as the Ethiopian wolf) d- ease may pose the greatest threat to their survival. If we are to avoid or reduce these impacts then we must improve our ability to detect and manage the risks associated with disease in wildlife populations. This is a challenge that will require expertise from many different disciplines: veterinary, ecological, medical, economic, poli- cal and zoological. In such an interdisciplinary field it is difficult to stay up to date with contemporary ideas and with techniques that may be rapidly evolving.

Emerging infectious diseases pose an increasingly serious threat to a number of endangered or sensitive species and are increasingly recognized as one of the major factors driving species extinction. Despite the significant impact of pathogens on conservation, no single book has yet integrated the theoretical principles underlying disease transmission with the practical health considerations for helping wildlife professionals and conservation biologists to manage disease outbreaks and conserve biodiversity. This novel and accessible book starts with a foundational section focusing on the role of pathogens in natural ecosystems, the dynamics of transmission in different environments, and the factors driving wildlife disease outbreaks. It then moves on to more applied issues concerned with the acquisition of field data including sampling, experimental design and analysis, as well as diagnostic analyses in both the laboratory and field. Guidelines for effective modelling and data analysis follow, before a final section is devoted to disease prevention and control including the prevention of novel outbreaks, the use of diseases as biocontrol agents, and the associated issues of ethics, public communication, and outreach. Infectious Disease Ecology and Conservation is primarily aimed at advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and established researchers in the fields of conservation biology, disease ecology, population ecology, and veterinary science. It will also be a valuable reference for conservation practitioners, land managers, and wildlife professionals who are required to deal with disease outbreak problems.