Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Plains CESU

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The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner to develop models of spread for emerging diseases (with a focus on White-Nose Syndrome). Emerging/re-emerging diseases of wildlife have the potential to cause devastating population declines and threaten the ability of a species to persist. In the face of emerging diseases, decision makers often have to determine a course of action with minimal information regarding the details of the disease's ecology and pathology. Emerging diseases such as white-nose syndrome and chytrid fungus have raised concerns among wildlife managers due to their potential threats to wildlife populations. In addition, re-emerging zoonotic diseases such as plague and West Nile virus continue to cause human mortalities on an annual basis. The development of models that can predict the potential geographic spread and risk for an emerging/re-emerging disease plays a vital role in providing decision makers with the best available information regarding the potential impacts of a disease.

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