A new method could be used by biologists to estimate the prevalence of disease in free-ranging wildlife and help determine how many samples are needed to detect a disease.
A new method could be used by biologists to estimate the prevalence of disease in free-ranging wildlife and help determine how many samples are needed to detect a disease.
This is important because wildlife agencies often lack the financial and labor resources to collect enough samples to accurately measure how widely a disease has spread. In order to prevent human and animal pandemics with wildlife origins, such as with COVID-19, key species must be effectively monitored for emerging diseases that can cross from animals to humans.
Until now, widely used formulas for determining sample sizes assume that animals in a population contract diseases independently of each other.
In reality, populations are often clustered, where individuals collect in family groups and share space and habitat. Due to such close proximity, individuals within the group are likely to spread contagious diseases among each other.
Read more at Cornell University
Image: Biologist Brenda Hanley attaches a transmitter to a free-ranging desert tortoise. (Credit: Cornell University)
