Julie A. Blanchong

Iowa State University

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Michael D. Samuel

International Atomic Energy Agency

Kim T. Scribner

Michigan State University

Scott R. Winterstein

Michigan State University

Julia A. Langenberg

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Stephen J. Dinsmore

Iowa State University

Laura Smale

Michigan State University

Paul J. Plummer

Iowa State University

William J. Reiter‐Marolf

Iowa State University

MICHAEL S. SUMMERFIELD

Bowling Green State University

Başak Aldemir Bektaş

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Cooperative Institutions

Iowa State University

United States Geological Survey

Michigan State University

United States Department of Agriculture

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

University of Minnesota

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Texas A&M University

University of Georgia

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De novo assembly and annotation of the North American bison (Bison bison) reference genome and subsequent variant identification

Animal Genetics (2021)

Lauren K. Dobson Aleksey V. Zimin Darrell O. Bayles Eric Fritz-Waters David P. Alt

Summary Genomic tools have improved the ability to manage bison populations and enhanced efforts to conserve this iconic species. These tools have been particularly useful for detecting introgression of cattle genome within bison herds but are limited by the need to use the cattle genome as a surrogate for mapping reads. This complicates efforts to distinguish the species of origin of chromosomal segments in individual bison at the genomic level. An assembly (Bison_UMD1.0) based on 75X genome coverage by Illumina and 454 reads was generated using the MaSuRCA assembler, generating a 2.81 Gigbases de novo reference genome from American bison. Comparison of bison and domestic cattle references identified 28 443 364 single nucleotide variants and 2 627 645 insertions/deletions distinguishing the species. Sequence alignment of an additional 12 modern bison samples and two historic bison samples to domestic cattle and bison references provides a dataset of genomic variants defining the different species and within‐species variation. This first annotated draft assembly represents a resource for the management and conservation of bison, as well as a means to study the effects on the genome of interspecies hybridization. The comparisons of historical bison sequences with the new bison reference identified genomic differences between modern and pre‐population bottleneck bison. The results support the application of genomics to enhance future research on disease, the establishment of satellite conservation herds and insight into bison and cattle speciation. The first genome assembly for bison and dataset provides a foundation that can be built upon as genetic technologies improve over the years.

Bison bison

Introgression

Sequence assembly

Bovine genome

10.1111/age.13060

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Citations (7)

TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF ACTIVITY OF THE UNSTRIPED NILE RAT,ARVICANTHIS NILOTICUS

Journal of Mammalogy (2000)

Julie A. Blanchong Laura Smale

Previous descriptions of the daily pattern of activity of the unstriped Nile grass rat (Arvicanthis niloticus) conflict. Researchers have described this species as diurnal, nocturnal, or crepuscular. In our laboratory colony, some animals are diurnal and others are nocturnal in running wheels. We systematically examined activity patterns of free-living grass rats in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, where the animals in our lab originated. Sherman traps were set at dawn or dusk near animal burrow entrances, and the time of capture was recorded for each animal. Seventy-seven A. niloticus were captured 287 times at 20 different sites. Captures occurred almost exclusively during daylight. In contrast, other small mammals that were trapped on 49 occasions were caught exclusively at night. The temporal pattern of capture of A. niloticus did not vary as a function of age or sex. The diurnal pattern of activity we observed in A. niloticus is unusual among small rodents.

Crepuscular

Burrow

Dusk

10.1644/1545-1542(2000)081<0595:tpoaot>2.0.co;2

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Citations (55)

Iowa Acoustic Bat Surveys

Julie A. Blanchong

10.31274/farmprogressreports-180814-1725

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Citations (0)

Genetic diversity and population structure in urban white‐tailed deer

Journal of Wildlife Management (2013)

Julie A. Blanchong Anna Bess Sorin Kim T. Scribner

Abstract Habitat fragmentation in urban areas has left many species isolated and vulnerable to loss of genetic variation. White‐tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), however, thrive in urban areas. We compared genetic diversity and structure among deer in 2 urban metroparks with deer in a fenced reserve and with deer from an open, continuously distributed population to inform urban deer management. If urban deer maintain species' typical matrilineal genetic structure, removal of female groups may effectively reduce local abundance. However, if gene flow in urban areas is high, dispersal may impede efforts to reduce abundance. Although genetic diversity was high and mean relatedness was near zero in all locations, distributions of pairwise relatedness in urban metroparks and the fenced reserve contained greater proportions of closely and distantly related deer than the open locations, likely attributable to matrilineal structure. In addition, deer from the metroparks (approx. 65 km apart) were moderately differentiated ( F st = 0.092) indicating gene flow in urban areas may be less than in other landscapes. Our results indicate that removal of matrilineal groups may reduce local urban deer abundance without inducing immigration from surrounding areas. © The Wildlife Society, 2012

Odocoileus

Isolation by distance

Habitat Fragmentation

10.1002/jwmg.521

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Citations (22)

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AGRICULTURAL LAND USE AND WEST NILE VIRUS ANTIBODY PREVALENCE IN IOWA BIRDS

Journal of Wildlife Diseases (2013)

Natalie Randall Bradley J. Blitvich Julie A. Blanchong

In the Plains states of the central United States, research suggests that the prevalence of West Nile virus (WNV) disease in humans is higher in agricultural areas than in nonagricultural areas. In contrast, there is limited information about WNV exposure in birds, the primary amplifying host of WNV, in agriculturally dominated landscapes. We evaluated whether exposure to WNV in peridomestic birds sampled in central Iowa varied with the proportion of land use devoted to agriculture. Over the summers of 2009 and 2010, we captured birds in sites comprising gradients of agricultural, urban, and natural land uses, and tested their sera for antibodies to WNV. Overall, WNV antibody prevalence was low (2.3%). Our results suggest that agricultural land use had minimal influence on WNV exposure in birds. We conclude that birds are not likely to be useful indicators of WNV activity in agricultural areas in the Plains states despite human risk being highest in those areas. Antibody prevalence for WNV, however, was higher in American Robins, Mourning Doves, and Northern Cardinals than in other species, making these species potentially useful for monitoring WNV activity in the US Plains states.

West Nile virus

Agricultural land

10.7589/2012-10-263

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Citations (6)

TB-infected deer are more closely related than non-infected deer

Biology Letters (2006)

Julie A. Blanchong Kim T. Scribner Alexandra Kravchenko Scott R. Winterstein

Identifying mechanisms of pathogen transmission is critical to controlling disease. Social organization should influence contacts among individuals and thus the distribution and spread of disease within a population. Molecular genetic markers can be used to elucidate mechanisms of disease transmission in wildlife populations without undertaking detailed observational studies to determine probable contact rates. Estimates of genealogical relationships within a bovine tuberculosis-infected white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) population indicated that infected deer were significantly more closely related than non-infected deer suggesting that contact within family groups was a significant mechanism of disease transmission. Results demonstrate that epidemiological models should incorporate aspects of host ecology likely to affect the probability of disease transmission.

Odocoileus

Wildlife disease

10.1098/rsbl.2006.0547

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Citations (47)

Mercury Exposure in Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Admitted for Rehabilitation in Iowa, USA

Journal of Wildlife Diseases (2017)

Julie A. Blanchong William J. Reiter‐Marolf Stephen J. Dinsmore

To gain insight into mercury exposure in Bald Eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) in Iowa, US we collected blood from 22 rehabilitation eagles in 2012-13. The geometric mean blood mercury level was 0.144 μg/g (95% confidence interval: 0.066-0.314) and was at the lower end of the range of levels reported elsewhere.

Bald eagle

Mercury

Mercury poisoning

10.7589/2015-10-289

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PERSISTENCE OF PASTEURELLA MULTOCIDA IN WETLANDS FOLLOWING AVIAN CHOLERA OUTBREAKS

Journal of Wildlife Diseases (2006)

Julie A. Blanchong Michael D. Samuel Diana R. Goldberg Daniel J. Shadduck Margaret A. Lehr

Avian cholera, caused by Pasteurella multocida, affects waterbirds across North America and occurs worldwide among various avian species. Once an epizootic begins, contamination of the wetland environment likely facilitates the transmission of P. multocida to susceptible birds. To evaluate the ability of P. multocida serotype-1, the most common serotype associated with avian cholera in waterfowl in western and central North America, to persist in wetlands and to identify environmental factors associated with its persistence, we collected water and sediment samples from 23 wetlands during winters and springs of 1996-99. These samples were collected during avian cholera outbreaks and for up to 13 wk following initial sampling. We recovered P. multocida from six wetlands that were sampled following the initial outbreaks, but no P. multocida was isolated later than 7 wk after the initial outbreak sampling. We found no significant relationship between the probability of recovery of P. multocida during resampling and the abundance of the bacterium recovered during initial sampling, the substrate from which isolates were collected, isolate virulence, or water quality conditions previously suggested to be related to the abundance or survival of P. multocida. Our results indicate that wetlands are unlikely to serve as a long-term reservoir for P. multocida because the bacterium does not persist in wetlands for long time periods following avian cholera outbreaks.

Fowl cholera

Cholera

Epizootic

10.7589/0090-3558-42.1.33

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Citations (34)

Genealogical Relationships Influence the Probability of Infection with Bovine Tuberculosis and Microgeographic Genetic Structure in Free-Ranging White-Tailed Deer

Julie A. Blanchong

White (mutation)

Source

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Citations (4)

Population genetic structure of white-tailed deer: Understanding risk of chronic wasting disease spread

Journal of Wildlife Management (2011)

Krista Renee Lang Julie A. Blanchong

Abstract Understanding factors that influence the spread of wildlife diseases can assist in designing effective surveillance programs and appropriate management strategies. Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal prion disease of cervids, was detected in south‐central Wisconsin in 2002 and over time has been identified increasingly farther west in the state leading to concerns about CWD spreading to Iowa. Our objective was to characterize genetic connectivity between white‐tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) populations in eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin to assess the risk of CWD‐infected deer dispersing to Iowa. We hypothesized that the Mississippi River, which separates the states, may restrict the movement of deer and thus disease. We genotyped hunter‐harvested female deer collected from both states at 12 nuclear microsatellite loci ( n = 249) and sequenced a portion of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region ( n = 173). Microsatellite data indicated there was low genetic differentiation (Φ PT = 0.005) between states and weak spatial genetic structure across the study area as a whole. Verifying expectations that dispersal in deer is male‐biased, maternally inherited mtDNA data showed stronger spatial structuring across the study area and greater genetic differentiation between the states (Φ PT = 0.052) such that clustering analysis grouped the majority of deer from Iowa and Wisconsin into separate clusters. The low level of genetic differentiation between deer in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin, primarily the result of dispersing males who have greater CWD prevalence than females, indicates that the Mississippi River is unlikely to prohibit the westward spread of CWD, and underscores the importance of continued CWD surveillance in Iowa. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.

Chronic wasting disease

Odocoileus

10.1002/jwmg.292

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Citations (31)