Estimation of Bait Uptake by Badgers, Using Non-invasive Methods, in the Perspective of Oral Vaccination Against Bovine Tuberculosis in a French Infected Area.

Although France is officially declared free of bovine tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium bovis infection is still observed in several regions in cattle and wildlife, including badgers (Meles meles). In this context, vaccinating badgers should be considered as a promising strategy for the reduction in M. bovis transmission between badgers and other species, and cattle in particular. An oral vaccine consisting of live Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) contained in bait is currently under assessment for badgers, for which testing bait deployment in the field and assessing bait uptake by badgers are required. This study aimed to evaluate the bait uptake by badgers and determine the main factors influencing uptake in a TB-infected area in Burgundy, north-eastern France. The baits were delivered at 15 different setts located in the vicinity of 13 pastures within a TB-infected area, which has been subject to intense badger culling over the last decade. Pre-baits followed by baits containing a biomarker (Rhodamine B; no BCG vaccine) were delivered down sett entrances in the spring (8 days of pre-baiting and 4 days of baiting) and summer (2 days of pre-baiting and 2 days of baiting) of 2018. The consumption of the marked baits was assessed by detecting fluorescence, produced by Rhodamine B, in hair collected in hair traps positioned at the setts and on the margins of the targeted pastures. Collected hairs were also genotyped to differentiate individuals using 24 microsatellites markers and one sex marker. Bait uptake was estimated as the proportion of badgers consuming baits marked by the biomarker over all the sampled animals (individual level), per badger social group, and per targeted pasture. We found a bait uptake of 52.4% (43 marked individuals of 82 genetically identified) at the individual level and a mean of 48.9 and 50.6% at the social group and pasture levels, respectively. The bait uptake was positively associated with the presence of cubs (social group level) and negatively influenced by the intensity of previous trapping (social group and pasture levels). This study is the first conducted in France on bait deployment in a badger population of intermediate density after several years of intensive culling. The results are expected to provide valuable information toward a realistic deployment of oral vaccine baits to control TB in badger populations.

Breaking down population density into different components to better understand its spatial variation.

BACKGROUND: Population size and densities are key parameters in both fundamental and applied ecology, as they affect population resilience to density-dependent processes, habitat changes and stochastic events. Efficient management measures or species conservation programs thus require accurate estimates of local population densities across time and space, especially for continuously distributed species. For social species living in groups, population density depends on different components, namely the number of groups and the group size, for which relative variations in space may originate from different environmental factors. Whether resulting spatial variations in density are mostly triggered by one component or the other remains poorly known. Here, we aimed at determining the magnitude of the spatial variation in population densities of a social, group-living species, i.e. the European badger Meles meles, in 13 different sites of around 50 km2 across France, to decipher whether sett density, group size or proportion of occupied sett variation is the main factor explaining density variation. Besides the intrinsic factors of density variation, we also assessed whether habitat characteristics such as habitat fragmentation, urbanisation, and resource availability, drove both the spatial variation of density components and local population densities. RESULTS: We proposed a new standardised approach combining use of multiple methods, namely distance sampling for estimating the density of occupied sett clusters, i.e. group density, and camera and hair trapping for genetic identification to determine the mean social group size. The density of adult badgers was on average 3.8 per km2 (range 1.7-7.9 per km2) and was positively correlated with the density of sett clusters. The density of adult badgers per site was less related to the social group size or to the proportion of occupied sett clusters. Landscape fragmentation also explained the spatial variation of adult badger density, with highly fragmented landscapes supporting lower adult densities. Density components were linked differently to environmental variables. CONCLUSIONS: These results underline the need to break down population density estimates into several components in group-living species to better understand the pattern of temporal and spatial variation in population density, as different components may vary due to different ecological factors.

Altitude shapes the environmental drivers of large-scale variation in abundance of a widespread mammal species.

AIM: Habitat quality and heterogeneity directly influence the distribution and abundance of organisms at different spatial scales. Determining the main environmental factors driving the variation in species abundance is crucial to understand the underlying ecological processes, and this is especially important for widely distributed species living in contrasting environments. However, the responses to environmental variation are usually described at relatively small spatial scales. Here, we studied the variation in abundance of a widely distributed mustelid, the European badger (Meles meles), across France. LOCATION: The whole metropolitan France. METHODS: We used (a) direct detections of 9,439 dead and living badgers, from 2006 to 2009, to estimate badger relative abundance in 703 small agricultural regions of metropolitan France and (b) a Bayesian modeling approach to identify the main environmental determinants influencing badger abundance. RESULTS: Despite a continuous distribution of badger in France, we found large variation in badger abundance between regions, explained by environmental factors. Among a set of 13 environmental variables, we demonstrated that badger abundance in lowlands (<400 m a.s.l.) was mostly driven by biotic factors such as potential food resources (earthworm abundance and fruit crops) and forest fragmentation. Conversely, in mountainous areas, abiotic factors (i.e., soil texture and climate) drove the variation in badger relative abundance. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: These results underline the importance of mapping the abundance of wildlife species based on environmental suitability and highlight the complexity of drivers influencing species abundance at such large spatial scales. Altitude shaped the environmental drivers (biotic vs. abiotic) that most influenced relative abundance of a widespread species. In the case of badger, such abundance maps are crucial to identify critical areas for species management as this mustelid is a main wild vector of bovine tuberculosis in several countries.