Domestic Dogs and One Health: Investigating the Impact of Management Strategies and Dog Intrusion into Natural Environments and Pathogen Transmission

• Grant number: 24/16055-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Natalie Olifiers
• Grantee: Natalie Olifiers
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Paula Nascimento Gomes ; André Luiz Rodrigues Roque ; Arnaldo Maldonado Junior ; Darci Moraes Barros-Battesti ; Eduardo José Lopes Torres ; Eliane Gonçalves de Freitas ; Marcos Rogério André ; Paula Rahal ; Rita de Cassia Bianchi ; Roland Kays ; Rosangela Zacarias Machado
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/01584-3 - Collection, organization and analysis of data in health, ecology and parasitology: training human resources with multidisciplinary action, BP.TT

Abstract

Domestic dogs can negatively impact natural communities, for example by altering the behaviour of native species, preying on/competing with them, and/or transmitting pathogens. In many scenarios, dogs act as a link between the wild, domestic, and human environments, a link that is essential for understanding pathogen transmission and for conserving biodiversity. The occurrence of this invasive species is common in natural areas in Brazil, but few studies have investigated the role it plays in both native species and in human and other animal health, as well as the factors determining its impacts and/or the effect of species management strategies. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of dogs on wildlife, as well as the determinants of dog intrusion and activity in natural areas and the risk of disease transmission to humans and other animals, thereby adopting a One Health approach. Stray dogs from the surroundings of a protected area will be dewormed, neutered and monitored to assess the impact of these interventions on reducing their home ranges, activity levels and intrusion into natural areas. We will also investigate the impact of the kind of the owner-dog interaction and the physical and behavioural characteristics of the dogs on their intrusion into natural areas, as well as the effect of the dogs' presence on the behavior and space use by native species. Dogs and wild carnivores will be searched for important parasites in the context of One Health, investigating how dogs can function as sentinels/transmitters of pathogens between the wild, human and domestic compartments. With this project, we hope to better understand the impact of dogs on natural areas. We also expect that management interventions will reduce dog intrusion into natural areas and promote biodiversity conservation, animal welfare and human health. (AU)