| resistance to plague among black-tailed prairie dog populations. | abstract in some rodent species frequently exposed to plague outbreaks caused by yersinia pestis, resistance to the disease has evolved as a population trait. as a first step in determining if plague resistance has developed in black-tailed prairie dogs (cynomys ludovicianus), animals captured from colonies in a plague-free region (south dakota) and two plague-endemic regions (colorado and texas) were challenged with y. pestis at one of three doses (2.5, 250, or 2500 mouse ld50s). south dakota p ... | 2011 | 21923261 |
| burrowing owls, pulex irritans, and plague. | western burrowing owls (athene cunicularia hypugaea) are small, ground-dwelling owls of western north america that frequent prairie dog (cynomys spp.) towns and other grasslands. because they rely on rodent prey and occupy burrows once or concurrently inhabited by fossorial mammals, the owls often harbor fleas. we examined the potential role of fleas found on burrowing owls in plague dynamics by evaluating prevalence of yersinia pestis in fleas collected from burrowing owls and in owl blood. dur ... | 2015 | 26367482 |
| flea and small mammal species composition in mixed-grass prairies: implications for the maintenance of yersinia pestis. | maintenance of sylvatic plague in prairie dogs (cynomis spp.) was once thought unlikely due to high mortality rates; yet more recent findings indicate that low-level enzootic plague may be maintained in susceptible prairie dog populations. another hypothesis for the maintenance of sylvatic plague involves small mammals, other than prairie dogs, as an alternative reservoir in the sylvatic plague system. these hypotheses, however, are not mutually exclusive, as both prairie dogs and small mammals ... | 2017 | 28520514 |
| fleas of black-footed ferrets and their potential role in the movement of plague. | sylvatic plague is one of the major impediments to the recovery of the black-footed ferret ( mustela nigripes ) because it decimates their primary prey species, prairie dogs ( cynomys spp.), and directly causes mortality in ferrets. fleas are the primary vector of yersinia pestis , the causative agent of sylvatic plague. the goal of this research was to better understand the flea fauna of ferrets and the factors that might influence flea abundance on ferrets. fleas from ferrets were tested for y ... | 2017 | 28384062 |