School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
Conserv Biol. 2010 Jun;24(3):841-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01429.x. Epub 2010 Jan 19.
Sustainable strategies to manage infectious diseases in threatened wildlife are still lacking despite considerable concern over the global increase in emerging infectious diseases of wildlife and their potential to drive populations to extinction. Selective culling of infected individuals will often be the most feasible option to control infectious disease in a threatened wildlife host, but has seldom been implemented or evaluated as a management tool for the conservation of threatened species. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is threatened with extinction by an infectious cancer, devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). We assess the success of an adaptive management trial involving selective culling of infected Tasmanian devils to control DFTD. Demographic and epidemiological parameters indicative of disease progression and impact were compared between the management site and a comparable unmanaged control site. Selective culling of infected individuals neither slowed rate of disease progression nor reduced population-level impacts of this debilitating disease. Culling mortality simply compensated for disease mortality in this system. Failure of selective culling to impede DFTD progress and reduce its impacts in the managed population was attributed to DFTD's frequency-dependent nature, its long latent period and high degree of infectivity, and the presence of a cryptic hidden disease reservoir or continual immigration of diseased individuals. We suggest that increasing the current removal rate and focusing removal efforts prior to the breeding season are options worth pursuing for future management of DFTD in this population. On the basis of our experience, we suggest that disease-management programs for threatened wildlife populations be developed on the principles of adaptive management and utilize a wide variety of strategies with regular reviews and adaptation of strategies undertaken as new information is obtained.
尽管人们对全球野生动物新发传染病的增加及其导致物种灭绝的潜在风险深感担忧，但仍然缺乏可持续的策略来管理受威胁野生动物的传染病。在受威胁的野生动物宿主中，有选择地扑杀感染个体通常是控制传染病最可行的选择，但作为受威胁物种保护的管理工具，这种方法很少被实施或评估。袋獾（Sarcophilus harrisii）正受到传染性癌症——袋獾面部肿瘤疾病（DFTD）的威胁。我们评估了一项涉及有选择地扑杀感染袋獾以控制 DFTD 的适应性管理试验的成功。比较了管理区和可比的未管理对照区的疾病进展和影响的人口统计学和流行病学参数。有选择地扑杀感染个体既没有减缓疾病进展的速度，也没有减少这种衰弱疾病对种群水平的影响。在这个系统中，扑杀死亡率只是弥补了疾病死亡率。选择性扑杀未能阻止 DFTD 的进展并减少其对管理种群的影响，这归因于 DFTD 的频率依赖性、长潜伏期和高度传染性，以及隐匿性疾病库的存在或患病个体的持续移民。我们建议，在繁殖季节之前增加当前的清除率，并集中清除努力，这是该种群未来管理 DFTD 的一种值得探索的选择。根据我们的经验，我们建议受威胁野生动物种群的疾病管理计划应根据适应性管理原则制定，并利用各种策略，随着新信息的获得，定期审查和调整策略。
