Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales

Abstract The European badger (Meles meles) is of considerable interest in the UK as it is both a protected species and the main wildlife reservoir for bovine tuberculosis infection in cattle. While there have been three national badger surveys in the 1980s, 1990s and 2011–13, using the number of bad...

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Autores principales:	Johanna Judge, Gavin J. Wilson, Roy Macarthur, Robbie A. McDonald, Richard J. Delahay
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/24a9833160d24793bab515821ff07193
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:24a9833160d24793bab515821ff071932021-12-02T11:40:33ZAbundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales10.1038/s41598-017-00378-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/24a9833160d24793bab515821ff071932017-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00378-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The European badger (Meles meles) is of considerable interest in the UK as it is both a protected species and the main wildlife reservoir for bovine tuberculosis infection in cattle. While there have been three national badger surveys in the 1980s, 1990s and 2011–13, using the number of badger main setts as a proxy for the abundance of badger social groups, none has combined contemporary data on social group size at landscape and national scales. We estimated social group size by genotyping hair samples collected at 120 main setts across England and Wales and employing a capture-mark-recapture method based on genotypes. The estimated mean social group size in England and Wales was 6.74 (±0.63) badgers. There was considerable variation in badger social group size among Land Class Groups (LCGs), with a low of 2.67 in LCG3 and a high of 7.92 in LCG4. Combining these results with the recent Badger Sett Survey of England and Wales, we estimate there are approximately 485,000 badgers (95% confidence intervals 391,000–581,000) in England and Wales. Although direct comparison with previous estimates is not ideal owing to methodological differences, our results are consistent with a marked increase in the badger population of England and Wales since the 1980s.Johanna JudgeGavin J. WilsonRoy MacarthurRobbie A. McDonaldRichard J. DelahayNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Johanna Judge Gavin J. Wilson Roy Macarthur Robbie A. McDonald Richard J. Delahay Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales
description	Abstract The European badger (Meles meles) is of considerable interest in the UK as it is both a protected species and the main wildlife reservoir for bovine tuberculosis infection in cattle. While there have been three national badger surveys in the 1980s, 1990s and 2011–13, using the number of badger main setts as a proxy for the abundance of badger social groups, none has combined contemporary data on social group size at landscape and national scales. We estimated social group size by genotyping hair samples collected at 120 main setts across England and Wales and employing a capture-mark-recapture method based on genotypes. The estimated mean social group size in England and Wales was 6.74 (±0.63) badgers. There was considerable variation in badger social group size among Land Class Groups (LCGs), with a low of 2.67 in LCG3 and a high of 7.92 in LCG4. Combining these results with the recent Badger Sett Survey of England and Wales, we estimate there are approximately 485,000 badgers (95% confidence intervals 391,000–581,000) in England and Wales. Although direct comparison with previous estimates is not ideal owing to methodological differences, our results are consistent with a marked increase in the badger population of England and Wales since the 1980s.
format	article
author	Johanna Judge Gavin J. Wilson Roy Macarthur Robbie A. McDonald Richard J. Delahay
author_facet	Johanna Judge Gavin J. Wilson Roy Macarthur Robbie A. McDonald Richard J. Delahay
author_sort	Johanna Judge
title	Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales
title_short	Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales
title_full	Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales
title_fullStr	Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales
title_full_unstemmed	Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales
title_sort	abundance of badgers (meles meles) in england and wales
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/24a9833160d24793bab515821ff07193
work_keys_str_mv	AT johannajudge abundanceofbadgersmelesmelesinenglandandwales AT gavinjwilson abundanceofbadgersmelesmelesinenglandandwales AT roymacarthur abundanceofbadgersmelesmelesinenglandandwales AT robbieamcdonald abundanceofbadgersmelesmelesinenglandandwales AT richardjdelahay abundanceofbadgersmelesmelesinenglandandwales
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Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales

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