Investigating the Epidemiology of Bovine Tuberculosis in the European Badger

This project will use a long-term study of badgers and bovine tuberculosis to understand the demography and epidemiology of the badger-bTB interaction using state-of-the-art statistical modelling. This project forms part of a major research programme, delivered by the University of Exeter in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, to understand the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of wildlife disease, with a focus on bovine tuberculosis. We have developed integrated statistical models of disease progression and transmission (McDonald, J. L., Bailey, T. , Delahay, R. J., McDonald, R. A., Smith, G. C., Hodgson, D. J. (2016), Demographic buffering and compensatory recruitment promotes the persistence of disease in a wildlife population. Ecol Lett, 19: 443-449), and now wish to extend these models to include information on population genetics, social and spatial structure, ageing and inbreeding. The project will yield high impact understanding of this important wildlife disease system, and will yield high quality publications.