Geographic analysis of pathogen exposure in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis).
Antibody responses were examined among 998 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in California (USA) to determine spatial patterns of pathogen exposure. Using a shifting frame analysis, a specific geographic region was delineated that contained bighorn sheep with higher (P < 0.05) levels of multiple exposure (antibodies detected against > or = two pathogens), as well as higher prevalence values for eight of ten individual pathogens. This region in southwestern California encompassed all of the peninsular populations of bighorn sheep recently proposed for listing as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Elliott
L F
LF
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of California, Davis 95616.
Boyce
W M
WM
Clark
R K
RK
Jessup
D A
DA
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology
D000906:Antibodies