Supplemental feeding of deer is a common management action. However, concentrating animals, as feeding does, is known to promote the transmission of disease. We examined how feeding alters three sources of disease: aflatoxins, gastrointestinal parasites, and ticks. To do this, we paired 79 feeder sites throughout Mississippi with ecologically-equivalent sites without feeders. Wildlife visitation increased at feeders compared to sites without feeders. For aflatoxins, we sampled during the summer and hunting season and found low prevalence and levels in feeders and bagged/bulk feed. The greater concern was environmental exposure to aflatoxins. All corn piles exposed to environmental contamination in July contained toxic levels of aflatoxins after eight days. The environmental load of gastrointestinal parasites was elevated for coccidia (4x) and strongylids (3x). Finally, feeding reduced the number of ticks at feeder sites, but did not alter the prevalence of tick-borne diseases within captured ticks compared to sites without feeders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-6252 |
| Date | 06 August 2021 |
| Creators | Jacobson Huang, Miranda Hsiang-Ning |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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