Badger Ageing, Demographic, Genomic and Epidemiological Research
Badger Ageing, Demographic, Genomic and Epidemiological Research
This project investigates the evolutionary demography and epidemiology of persistent wildlife disease. We use bovine tuberculosis in European badgers as a case study to understand how diseases persist, spread and change in open wildlife populations.
The study is based around a long-term monitoring program of a wild badger population where individuals and bTB infection have been monitored for more than five decades. This dataset allows researchers to ask questions that are rarely possible in wildlife disease systems: how do birth, death, movement, social structure, genetics, ageing and pathogen variation combine to influence disease persistence?
Bovine tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium bovis. It is an important disease for livestock, wildlife, policy and rural communities. The relationship between badgers, cattle, the environment and disease management is complex and public discussion can become polarised.
This project does not begin from a campaign position. Instead, it uses long-term evidence and statistical modelling to understand the processes that shape disease dynamics. By improving the evidence base the project aims to support better-informed scientific and public discussion.
When a disease persists in a wildlife population it is often described as endemic. However, this can imply a level of predictable stability that may not exist in the real world. Infection prevalence fluctuates through time and space, driven by changes in host abundance, population genetics, movement, social behaviour, immune function, pathogen strains, management interventions or external sources of infection.
Although the project focuses on badgers and bTB, the wider questions are relevant to any wildlife disease system. Understanding how disease persists in wild populations is important for conservation, livestock health, public policy and the management of emerging infections.
The methods developed through the project, including demographic models, genomic tools and compartmental models of transmission, will help researchers study other complex disease systems in the future.
The project brings together researchers and partners with expertise in ecology, demography, genomics, epidemiology, ageing, social networks, statistics, veterinary science and policy-facing research. The work combines field monitoring, laboratory analysis, data management and advanced modelling.
The project is collaborative and interdisciplinary, involving researchers from the University of Exeter, the University of Sheffield, the University of Edinburgh, APHA and other project partners.