Papers by Jennifer M Mullinax
PubMed, Jul 31, 2023
Influenza A viruses in wild birds pose threats to the poultry industry, wild birds, and human hea... more Influenza A viruses in wild birds pose threats to the poultry industry, wild birds, and human health under certain conditions. Of particular importance are wild waterfowl, which are the primary reservoir of low-pathogenicity influenza viruses that ultimately cause high-pathogenicity outbreaks in poultry farms. Despite much work on the drivers of influenza A virus prevalence, the underlying viral subtype dynamics are still mostly unexplored. Nevertheless, understanding these dynamics, particularly for the agriculturally significant H5 and H7 subtypes, is important for mitigating the risk of outbreaks in domestic poultry farms. Here, using an expansive surveillance database, we take a large-scale look at the spatial, temporal, and taxonomic drivers in the prevalence of these two subtypes among influenza A-positive wild waterfowl. We document spatiotemporal trends that are consistent with past work, particularly an uptick in H5 viruses in late autumn and H7 viruses in spring. Interestingly, despite large species differences in temporal trends in overall influenza A virus prevalence, we document only modest differences in the relative abundance of these two subtypes and little, if any, temporal differences among species. As such, it appears that differences in species' phenology, physiology, and behaviors that influence overall susceptibility to influenza A viruses play a much lesser role in relative susceptibility to different subtypes. Instead, species are likely to freely pass viruses among each other regardless of subtype. Importantly, despite the similarities among species documented here, individual species still may play important roles in moving viruses across large geographic areas or sustaining local outbreaks through their different migratory behaviors.
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Journal of Vector Ecology
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Ecological Applications
Influenza A viruses in wild birds pose threats to the poultry industry, wild birds, and human hea... more Influenza A viruses in wild birds pose threats to the poultry industry, wild birds, and human health under certain conditions. Of particular importance are wild waterfowl, which are the primary reservoir of low‐pathogenicity influenza viruses that ultimately cause high‐pathogenicity outbreaks in poultry farms. Despite much work on the drivers of influenza A virus prevalence, the underlying viral subtype dynamics are still mostly unexplored. Nevertheless, understanding these dynamics, particularly for the agriculturally significant H5 and H7 subtypes, is important for mitigating the risk of outbreaks in domestic poultry farms. Here, using an expansive surveillance database, we take a large‐scale look at the spatial, temporal, and taxonomic drivers in the prevalence of these two subtypes among influenza A‐positive wild waterfowl. We document spatiotemporal trends that are consistent with past work, particularly an uptick in H5 viruses in late autumn and H7 viruses in spring. Interesti...
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Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 was introduced in North America in late 2021... more Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 was introduced in North America in late 2021 through trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific pathways via migratory birds. These introductions have resulted in an unprecedented and widespread epizootic event for North America, heavily affecting poultry and free-living wild birds in the spring and summer of 2022. The North American incursions are occurring in the context of Europe’s largest epidemic season (2021 – 2022) where HPAIV may now be enzootic. A continued North American epizootic is expected in the fall of 2022 as migratory waterfowl return from their breeding grounds. The magnitude of the North American HPAIV spread indicates the need for effective decision framing to prioritize ongoing management needs and scientific inquiry, particularly for species at risk and interface areas for wildlife, poultry, and humans. The challenges of this global One Health disease could benefit from a decision framing which may result in improved c...
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Biological Invasions
We trapped, anesthetized, and fit 16 female feral swine (Sus scrofa) with Global Positioning Syst... more We trapped, anesthetized, and fit 16 female feral swine (Sus scrofa) with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) to develop predictive summer and winter models for more effective population control efforts. Given the highly diverse habitat and topography in GRSM and the spatial extent of our dataset, we employed Step Selection Function (SSF) to evaluate resource selection at the 3rd-order level and Resource Selection Function (RSF) models at the 2nd-order level for both summer and winter seasons. The summer SSF and RSF models suggested relatively similar levels of selection, whereas the winter models differed by method. We created a straightforward consensus model to better visualize the agreement and constraints of each set of models. In summer, feral swine used lower slopes regardless of elevation, especially those closer to human-dominated spaces such as along paved and gravel roadways. In winter, feral swine maintained preference fo...
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Parasites & Vectors
Background White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) host numerous ectoparasitic species in the ... more Background White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) host numerous ectoparasitic species in the eastern USA, most notably various species of ticks and two species of deer keds. Several pathogens transmitted by ticks to humans and other animal hosts have also been found in deer keds. Little is known about the acquisition and potential for transmission of these pathogens by deer keds; however, tick-deer ked co-feeding transmission is one possible scenario. On-host localization of ticks and deer keds on white-tailed deer was evaluated across several geographical regions of the eastern US to define tick-deer ked spatial relationships on host deer, which may impact the vector-borne disease ecology of these ectoparasites. Methods Ticks and deer keds were collected from hunter-harvested white-tailed deer from six states in the eastern US. Each deer was divided into three body sections, and each section was checked for 4 person-minutes. Differences in ectoparasite counts across body sectio...
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Urban Ecosystems
Understanding the ecology of the often dense white-tailed deer populations in urban and suburban ... more Understanding the ecology of the often dense white-tailed deer populations in urban and suburban landscapes is important for mitigating a variety of conflicts that arise with dense human populations, such as issues surrounding zoonotic disease mitigation. We collared white-tailed deer in highly suburban areas of Howard County, Maryland with high-resolution GPS collars. Then, we created autocorrelated kernel density home ranges for broader land use analyses and concurrently used general additive models to characterize fine-scale hourly measures of speed, activity, and proximity to residential buildings. Suburban deer home ranges encompassed approximately 35% direct residential land, and an average of 71 and 129 residential properties were found within female and male core ranges, respectively. Sex, time of day, and day of year all influenced fine-scale speeds, activity levels, and proximity to residential property buildings. Deer moved into residential areas nightly, especially in wi...
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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Apr 17, 2022
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Additional file 1: Figure S1. Rootogram showing performance of the model in the presence of zeroe... more Additional file 1: Figure S1. Rootogram showing performance of the model in the presence of zeroes in the dataset. The line and shaded area represent model predictions and 95% credible intervals. The histogram bars represent the actual data.
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Additional file 3. Top model with effect of treatment for wing chord (± SE). Dashed line indicate... more Additional file 3. Top model with effect of treatment for wing chord (± SE). Dashed line indicates control birds. Interestingly, Rear-weighted/Backpack/Automotive ribbon is the lowest, dragged down by the two birds that show sudden decreases.
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Additional file 4. Assembled harnesses prior to attachment on juvenile Japanese quail by transmit... more Additional file 4. Assembled harnesses prior to attachment on juvenile Japanese quail by transmitter type, harness type, and harness material.
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Additional file 2. Fitted model values (± SE) of top model containing the effect of treatment pre... more Additional file 2. Fitted model values (± SE) of top model containing the effect of treatment predicting mass of juvenile Japanese quail. Points represent masses of individual birds connected by dashed lines. Black dashed line indicates control group.
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Additional file 1. Growth curve of unmarked (control) juvenile Japanese quail showing average mas... more Additional file 1. Growth curve of unmarked (control) juvenile Japanese quail showing average mass (± SE) by sex. Birds generally reached full size by end of 30 days (though females still fluctuate from eggs)
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In an effort to facilitate research into the period between fledging and first breeding of juveni... more In an effort to facilitate research into the period between fledging and first breeding of juvenile terns we examined the impact of various combinations of harness types (backpack, leg-loop, and 3D printed harnesses), harness materials (Conrad-Jarvis automotive ribbon, Stretch Magic elastic thread, and Teflon ribbon), and transmitter types (CTT LifeTag and Lotek Nanotag) on a surrogate for juvenile terns, 28 day-old Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica. This species was selected due to similarities in adult mass and downy feathering of juveniles), in a 30-day experiment. We monitored for abrasion at points of contact and tag gap issues via daily exams while also recording mass and wing cord as indices of growth. This study was designed to serve as an initial examination of the impacts of marking on the growth and development of young birds and does not account for any impacts of tags on movement or behavior. The results of this study are provided in this data release.
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Biological Conservation, 2014
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Animal Biotelemetry
Background Fine-scale tracking of animals such as Peromyscus spp. is still done with micro-very h... more Background Fine-scale tracking of animals such as Peromyscus spp. is still done with micro-very high frequency collars due to the animal’s small size and habitat usage. In most cases, tracking micro-very high frequency collars requires manual telemetry, yet throughout the literature, there is little reporting of individual telemetry methods or error reporting for small mammal spatial analyses. Unfortunately, there is even less documentation and consensus on the best programs used to calculate fine-scale animal locations from compass azimuths. In this study, we present a strategy for collecting fine-scale spatial data on Peromyscus spp. as a model species for micro-very high frequency collars and assess multiple programmatic options and issues when calculating telemetry locations. Results Mice were trapped from April to October 2018–2019 with Sherman traps in Howard County, Maryland, USA. Collars were placed on 61 mice, of which 31 were included in the analyses. We compared the two m...
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Scientific Reports
Avian influenza viruses can pose serious risks to agricultural production, human health, and wild... more Avian influenza viruses can pose serious risks to agricultural production, human health, and wildlife. An understanding of viruses in wild reservoir species across time and space is important to informing surveillance programs, risk models, and potential population impacts for vulnerable species. Although it is recognized that influenza A virus prevalence peaks in reservoir waterfowl in late summer through autumn, temporal and spatial variation across species has not been fully characterized. We combined two large influenza databases for North America and applied spatiotemporal models to explore patterns in prevalence throughout the annual cycle and across the continental United States for 30 waterfowl species. Peaks in prevalence in late summer through autumn were pronounced for dabbling ducks in the genera Anas and Spatula, but not Mareca. Spatially, areas of high prevalence appeared to be related to regional duck density, with highest predicted prevalence found across the upper M...
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Additional file 5. Examples of the abrasion observed from Leg-loop and Backpack style harnesses (... more Additional file 5. Examples of the abrasion observed from Leg-loop and Backpack style harnesses (made with Automotive ribbon and Elastic cord, respectively) and their respective abrasion scores. Abrasion values were determined using the following criteria: open sore (4), blistering (3), red irritation of the skin (2), or no apparent impact (1).
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Journal of Medical Entomology, 2021
Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are increasing in the eastern United States and there is a lac... more Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are increasing in the eastern United States and there is a lack of research on integrated strategies to control tick vectors. Here we present results of a study on tick-borne pathogens detected from tick vectors and rodent reservoirs from an ongoing 5-yr tick suppression study in the Lyme disease-endemic state of Maryland, where human-biting tick species, including Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) (the primary vector of Lyme disease spirochetes), are abundant. During the 2017 tick season, we collected 207 questing ticks and 602 ticks recovered from 327 mice (Peromyscus spp. (Rodentia: Cricetidae)), together with blood and ear tissue from the mice, at seven suburban parks in Howard County. Ticks were selectively tested for the presence of the causative agents of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato [s.l.]), anaplasmosis (Anaplasma phagocytophilum), babesiosis (Babesia microti), ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia ewingii, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, ...
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Papers by Jennifer M Mullinax