Pathogen Transmission in Social Animals

Barber-Meyer, S., White, P., and Mech, D. 2007. Survey of selected pathogens and blood parameters of Northern Yellowstone elk: wolf sanitation effect implications. The American Midland Naturalist. 158 (2): 369-381. Wildlife Biologists work with one of the world’s top wolf specialists to explore the potential for using the wolf sanitation effect to manage elk disease. Specifically, this study explores whether or not natural wolf predation restricts the presence of pathogenic microbes in elk populations enough to be given significant weight in elk disease management plans. The study design is a first-ever attempt to compare the presence of pathogenic microbes in Yellowstone elk before and after wolf reintroduction. As such, it paves the way for future research, but it also leaves most questions unanswered. In fact, much of the discussion revolves around what issues still need to be studied before any conclusions about the data collected in this study can be made. Issues brought up include how wolves affect elk grouping in various locations of Yellowstone National Park; how elk grouping affects disease transfer of different pathogenic microbes; and how much researchers misinterpret in their evaluations of the wolf sanitation effect simply because disease symptoms in elk are not visible. The only concrete conclusion that the authors of this article could draw was that the wolf sanitation effect is microbe-specific, rather than universal. The value of this research article is in the long, thoughtful discussion, and in the development of reference values to which future data on potential predator sanitation effects can be compared.