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Minimum sampling effort for reliable non-invasive estimations of excretion abundance of Elaphostrongylus cervi L1 in red deer (Cervus elaphus) populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

J. Tayce ,
P. Acevedo ,
J. Vicente  and
C. Gortazar
J. Tayce
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC, (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), PO Box 535, Ronda de Toledo s.n., Ciudad Real E-13071, Spain College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
P. Acevedo*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC, (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), PO Box 535, Ronda de Toledo s.n., Ciudad Real E-13071, Spain Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom
J. Vicente
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC, (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), PO Box 535, Ronda de Toledo s.n., Ciudad Real E-13071, Spain
C. Gortazar
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC, (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), PO Box 535, Ronda de Toledo s.n., Ciudad Real E-13071, Spain
*
*Fax:+34-926295451 E-mail: pacevedo@irec.csic.es
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Abstract

Faecal surveys are commonly used as non-invasive means to evaluate population abundance of animals as well as comparable indexes of prevalence and intensity of diseases between populations, especially macroparasites. While faecal surveys are among one of the simplest means to perform these evaluations, they are time consuming and labour intensive. The present study evaluated 80 red deer (Cervus elaphus) faecal samples collected in two study sites for the presence and abundance of first-stage larvae of the nematode Elaphostrongylus cervi and established pools of samples for epidemiological analysis. The analysis of 20–30 individual samples would produce a reliable estimate of the ‘true’ prevalence, and the error of the smaller sample size only doubled that of the 80 reference samples. The analysis of 5 pools of 5 pellet groups each, or of 4 pools of 10 pellet groups each, provided a reliable estimation of the ‘true’ excretion abundance estimated by the analysis of all 80 samples. These pools comprise a cost-effective and dependable alternative for measuring and obtaining comparable abundances of parasitic faecal excretion stages in red deer populations, which is very valuable for epidemiological and ecological research as well as for management purposes.

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 82 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 255 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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