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Unexpected variations in badger behavior discovered by scientists may lead to rethinking the impact of interventions on bovine tuberculosis.
New research has revealed that the context of local badger populations can have significant effects on their travel behavior.
The study, led by Dr. Andrew Byrne of the Northern Ireland Institute of Agribusiness and Biosciences, indicates that "unique" badger interpretations of behavior can undermine efforts to manage the risk of bovine tuberculosis .
The results
Until recently, badgers were supposed to have reasonably secure group land, especially in lowland pastures.
Disruption of these territories can make the situation worse, as infected badgers can roam and spread the infection over larger areas.
However, recent research at AFBI has shed some light on how the species can present a range of different movement behaviors in a vast landscape dominated by pastures.
This suggests that simple interpretations of the "badger group" on the behavior of the badger group and their territories could undermine understanding and prove costly in attempting to manage the risk of bovine tuberculosis.
To succeed in different places, badgers adapt their behavior. The Spanish populations, for example, are organized in small groups (about two to four badgers) that roam a lot without strong territorial boundaries.
The highest densities of badgers are in the south of England, where large groups can form – sometimes up to more than 20 badgers – and can be grouped very tightly in territories, resulting in less flexible movement behavior.
The researchers wanted to know how badgers organized their groups and how it affected their movements in an agricultural landscape of 755 km² in Ireland.
In collaboration with colleagues from WildCRU (UK) of Oxford University and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM, Ireland), the project has resulted in a surprising discovery: the badgers of this landscape were not only "Irish" in their behavior, but depending on the size and density of groups, they might also look like "Spanish And the "south of England".
While the average density was lower than that of British sites, some subpopulations had relatively high densities, with large groups and low frequency of movement.
The other areas had a lower density, with much smaller groups, more fluid in their social life, going more often into neighboring burrows and beyond.
Behavioral variation
Dr. Byrne said, "It was not surprising to find variations in how badgers survive and thrive from one landscape to another.
"But our main finding was the difference between some dynamics of group movement in the same landscape: we had the impression to see populations of Spanish or low-density Belarusian badgers a few kilometers from British-type dense populations. in Ireland."
Byrne explained that the results will have implications for the management of TB.
"As a result, interventions aimed at reducing the risk of TB transmission by wildlife need not only to cope with very diverse populations in terms of local abundance, but also to what extent and at what frequency these animals are moving. Thus, what might work in one area might not be as effective in another, "he said.
These results also have an impact on the interpretation of previous badger slaughter trials conducted in Ireland and Britain, where the magnitude of the effects was very different from one study to the previous one. # 39; other.
It is clear that simple explanations of differences between studies, for example, that the average density of the badger population differs from one site to another, need to be revised.
"It's fundamentally more complex than previously thought. We need better disease models to better understand how intervention outcomes may differ depending on the context. "
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