Dinh Emily T N, Orange Jeremy P, Peters Rebecca M, Wisely Samantha M, Blackburn Jason K
Spatial Epidemiology & Ecology Research Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainvesille, FL 32611, USA.
Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Jan 16;11(1):211. doi: 10.3390/ani11010211.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) causes serious disease in wild and privately ranched white-tailed deer ( ) in the United States. In Florida, there is high EHDV prevalence, yet no treatments. There are few management strategies for the disease due to limited knowledge of virus-vector-host interactions. We conducted a telemetry study on white-tailed deer to examine resource use by wild and ranched animals in the Florida panhandle during the 2016 transmission risk period. We built generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to estimate resource selection and map habitat preferences for wild and ranched deer in the study area to reveal how second-order selection may relate to higher disease prevalence in ranched deer. Wild deer preferred areas closer to tertiary roads and supplementary food sources but farther from permanent water. Ranched deer selected bottomland mixed forest and areas closer to tertiary roads, supplementary food sources, and permanent water. Ranched deer behaviors may increase the likelihood of EHDV vector encounters, as these deer selected preferred habitats of several putative vector species, which may increase vector blood meal success and viral transmission risk. Disparate resource selection behaviors may be a factor in observed differential EHDV exposure risk between ranched and wild white-tailed deer in Florida.
流行性出血病病毒（EHDV）在美国的野生和私人养殖白尾鹿中引发严重疾病。在佛罗里达州，EHDV流行率很高，但尚无治疗方法。由于对病毒-媒介-宿主相互作用的了解有限，针对该疾病的管理策略很少。我们对白尾鹿进行了一项遥测研究，以调查2016年传播风险期佛罗里达狭长地带野生和养殖动物的资源利用情况。我们构建了广义线性混合模型（GLMMs）来估计研究区域内野生和养殖鹿的资源选择，并绘制栖息地偏好图，以揭示二阶选择可能与养殖鹿中较高的疾病流行率有何关联。野生鹿更喜欢靠近三级道路和补充食物源但远离永久性水源的区域。养殖鹿选择了低地混交林以及靠近三级道路、补充食物源和永久性水源的区域。养殖鹿的行为可能会增加遇到EHDV媒介的可能性，因为这些鹿选择了几种假定媒介物种的偏好栖息地，这可能会增加媒介成功获取血餐的几率以及病毒传播风险。不同的资源选择行为可能是佛罗里达州养殖和野生白尾鹿之间观察到的EHDV暴露风险差异的一个因素。
