DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5hh3h
title: Data from: Disease, predation and demography: assessing the impacts of bovine tuberculosis on African buffalo by monitoring at individual and population levels

description: 1. Understanding the effects of disease is critical to determining
 appropriate management responses, but estimating those effects in wildlife
 species is challenging. We used bovine tuberculosis (BTB) in the African
 buffalo Syncerus caffer population of Kruger National Park, South Africa,
 as a case study to highlight the issues associated with estimating chronic
 disease effects in a long-lived host. 2. We used known and radiocollared
 buffalo, aerial census data, and a natural gradient in pathogen prevalence
 to investigate if: (i) at the individual level, BTB infection reduces
 reproduction; (ii) BTB infection increases vulnerability to predation; and
 (iii) at the population level, increased BTB prevalence causes reduced
 population growth. 3. There was only a marginal reduction in calving
 success associated with BTB infection, as indexed by the probability of
 sighting a known adult female with or without a calf ( P = 0·065). 4.
 Since 1991, BTB prevalence increased from 27 to 45% in the southern region
 and from 4 to 28% in the central region of Kruger National Park. The
 prevalence in the northern regions was only 1·5% in 1998. Buffalo
 population growth rates, however, were neither statistically different
 among regions nor declining over time. 5. Lions Panthera leo did not
 appear to preferentially kill test-positive buffalo. The best (Akaike’s
 Information Criterion corrected for small sample size) AIC c model with
 BTB as a covariate [exp( β ) = 0·49; 95% CI = (0·24–1·02)] suggested that
 the mortality hazard for positive individuals was no greater than for
 test-negative individuals. 6. Synthesis and applications . Test accuracy,
 time-varying disease status, and movement among populations are some of
 the issues that make the detection of chronic disease impacts challenging.
 For these reasons, the demographic impacts of bovine tuberculosis in the
 Kruger National Park remain undetectable despite 6 years of study on known
 individuals and 40 years of population counts. However, the rainfall and
 forage conditions during this study were relatively good and the impacts
 of many chronic diseases may be a non-linear function of environmental
 conditions such that
description: Buffalo Mortality
 TableThis table contains a
 description of Buffalo mortalities (Old or fresh). Buffalo mortalities
 were encountered by field technicians during their daily movements in the
 field, either accidentally coming across them on foot, by actively
 pursuing vultures, or because the animal had a VHF or GPS collar. See
 Readme fileBuf
 Mortality.txtBuffalo Capture
 SessionsThis table contains all
 the details of capture session. In some cases, multiple individuals were
 captured simultaneously. This table contains the information about the
 overall site and event, while data about each captured individual are in
 Buffalo captures. These two tables can be linked based on the CapsessionID
 field. Two main types of techniques were utilized depending on the
 requirements of the capture. For individual recaptures the animals were
 darted from a vehicle. While for mass chemical immobilizations the animals
 were darted from a helicopter. See Readme file.Buffalo
 CapturesTable with data on
 individual buffalo captures. Can be linked to the site data based on the
 CapSessionID field and the Buffalo Capture Sessions Table. See readme
 file.Buffalo
 NamedThis is a reference
 table with one row per known buffalo (either based on visual
 characteristics or a VHF, GPS, or marker collar). This table contains data
 on all Identified buffalo. Each row refers to a single buffalo. The name
 field is a unique identifier. These were buffalo that were thought to be
 easily identifiable in field and were used to increase sample number for
 mark recapture analysis.Buffalo
 SightingsThis is for those
 identifiable individuals, either radiocollared or previously named. These
 data were intended for use in a mark-recapture analysis of survival,
 resighting, and dispersal rates.Buffalo Disease
 TestsTable contains the data
 on all disease testing (Bovine TB, Brucellosis, and Rift Valley Fever)
 done on the captured buffalo.Disease
 Tests.txtHerd
 SightingsHerd Sightings
 Freqhis table contains the
 VHF frequencies of those individuals “seen” in each herd at a specific
 sighting. This table should be used in conjunction with the herd sighting
 table by linking on HerdName and Date. Note that individuals were often
 not visually observed but were deduced to be in the herd based upon
 radio-telemetry.