Aphaea: harmonizing estimates of wildlife abundance and wildlife disease across Europe

Abstract

Harmonizing wildlife population monitoring and wildlife disease surveillance across the about 50 countries that constitute Europe is not an easy task. The EU (EMIDA ERA-NET) funded APHAEA consortium (www.aphaea.eu) has contributed towards the above goal through three actions: (1) producing written recommendations for wildlife abundance monitoring and for wildlife disease surveillance; (2) testing these recommendations on selected host-pathogen binomia; and (3) strengthening the European Wildlife Disease Network. In collaboration with many European and even some non-European experts, APHAEA has written and published species cards describing the tools available for abundance estimation for about 10 key wildlife host species or groups, as well as disease cards describing the key diagnostic tools available for about 20 relevant wildlife diseases. Both kinds of cards include an “APHAEA-recommended protocol”: the one proposed for use across countries. These protocols have been experimentally applied to Aujeszky’s disease virus and Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa), Francisella tularenisis and rodents, andEchinococcus multilocularis and red fox (Vulpes vulpes). These case-studies provided important insights into the practical difficulties to overcome when working across countries and based on volunteers and informal collaboration rather than government agencies. Finally, APHAEA has contributed to push the ongoing European Wildlife Disease Network forward, facilitating a forum for information exchange among the many European research groups interested in wildlife populations and their diseases.