Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Kaua‘i Avian Botulism Surveillance Using Detector Canines 2017-2018

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Hawai‘i’s endangered waterbirds have experienced epizootics caused by ingestion of prey that accumulated a botulinum neurotoxin produced by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum (avian botulism; Type C). Waterbird carcasses, necrophagous flies, and their larvae initiate and spread avian botulism, a food-borne paralytic disease lethal to waterbirds. Each new carcass has potential to develop toxin-accumulating necrophagous vectors amplifying outbreaks and killing hundreds of endangered birds. Early carcass removal is an effective mitigation strategy for preventing avian intoxication, toxin concentration in necrophagous and secondary food webs, and reducing the magnitude of epizootics. However, rapid detection of carcasses can be problematic and labor intensive. Therefore, we tested a new method using scent detection canines for avian botulism surveillance on the island of Kaua‘i. During operational surveillance and a randomized double-blind field trial, trained detector canines with experienced field handlers improved carcass detection probability, especially in dense vegetation. Detector canines could be combined with conventional surveillance to optimize search strategies for carcass removal and are a useful tool to reduce risks of the initiation and propagation of avian botulism. This data release contains three tables: (1) a summary of surveillance GPS track data, (2) a list of surveyed areas and environmental conditions, (3) a summary of detection trial data and environmental conditions. Other data was used in the project, including a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service map of the study area and specific GPS track data on private farmland; however, since both of these data sources contain sensitive geographic data about privately owned land and farms, these data sources are not included in this data release. All references to private land have been assigned unrecognizable alphanumeric identification codes.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/c5e5e63145a5efa3b2256fc355f41f05
Identifier USGS:5d8d07e7e4b0c4f70d0c867d
Data Last Modified 20210211
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 28cf1092-8c6b-4b32-8e2e-05176f1933a3
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -159.585,22.147,-159.435,22.234
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash c6342fa7fd5df71d5da883cd567015f62a2c0f5d4c8b8b332cdd85f6069fd037
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -159.585, 22.147, -159.585, 22.234, -159.435, 22.234, -159.435, 22.147, -159.585, 22.147}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.