Spread of non-indigenous American mink is associated with a number of serious ecological threats, such as intensive foraging ( e.g., small mammals, like Arvicola amphibious, ground-nesting birds, fish), competition and aggression ( e.g., Mustela lutreola) against indigenous fauna ( Heggenes & Borgstrom, 1988 Macdonald & Strachan, 1999 Macdonald & Harrington, 2003 Nordström et al., 2003 Banks et al., 2008). The success of animals in the wild, evidenced by rapid increase of feral populations, has been attributed to the species’ high reproduction capability, opportunistic foraging and the frequent lack of natural enemies and competitors in invaded areas ( Bevanger & Henriksen, 1995 Maran et al., 2016). In the early years of the mink farming industry in Iceland, mink escapes were observed and probably quite common, but the frequency of such events in recent times should be evaluated in the further studies ( Stefansson, Schmalensee & Skorupski, 2016). Escape events have been confirmed also in e.g., Norway ( Bevanger & Henriksen, 1995), Denmark ( Pertoldi et al., 2013), Scotland ( Macdonald et al., 2015) and France ( Fournier-Chambrillon et al., 2004) where American mink, after accidental escapes or deliberate releases, quickly established viable, feral and invasive populations. A countrywide feral population had been established by 1975 ( Stefansson, Schmalensee & Skorupski, 2016).
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In the following years, excluding the period 1951–1969 when fur-farming was banned by law, events of mink escapes have been recorded ( Skírnisson, Gunnarsson & Hjartardóttir, 1990). The American mink ( Neovison vison) is the main species farmed by the fur industry in Iceland since farms were first established in 1931 ( Hersteinsson, 1992 Hersteinsson, 1999 Bonesi & Palazon, 2007). The study shed a new light on prevalence and distribution of AMDV in the feral population of American mink in Iceland and the results might be successfully applied to develop models to infer dynamics of various pathogens, even those latently transmitted by disease-free animals. Therefore, the application of basic measurements of the American mink may be used to evaluate the health status of individuals in terms of pathogen infection. Comparison of condition indices in non-infected and infected animals showed significant deterioration of body and spleen parameters in the latter group. However, the countrywide prevalence and direction of AMDV distribution needs to be further investigated. Additionally, we revealed that the prevalence of virus in the feral population was higher closer to fur farms. We confirmed AMDV presence in 23.8% ( n = 39) of collected samples with no significant difference in infection rate between males and females. The detection of AMDV in the spleen of male and female individuals was based on PCR amplification of an NS1 gene fragment.
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MethodsĪmerican mink ( n = 164) were captured by professional hunters in 8 regions of Iceland. The additional objective was to elucidate whether basic morpho-anatomical parameters ( i.e., Fulton’s condition factor or spleen to body weight ratio) might be used as a preliminary indicator of AMDV infection. In our study, we aimed to assess spread of Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) in the feral population of American mink ( Neovison vison) in Iceland. Once animals have invaded ecosystems adjacent to source farms escapees can change the demography of the feral populations through hybridization, outbreeding depression, competition and spreading of various pathogens which can decimate wild populations. Recurring escapes or deliberate releases and subsequent infiltration or establishment of feral populations by individuals from fur farms have been commonly noted since the beginning of fur industry expansion. Case study of a pending epizootiological concern in Europe. Assessment of Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) prevalence in feral American mink in Iceland.
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Cite this article Panicz R, Eljasik P, Skorupski J, Śmietana P, Stefánsson RA, von Schmalensee M, Szenejko M. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. Licence This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed.
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3 West Iceland Nature Research Centre, Stykkisholmur, Iceland DOI 10.7717/peerj.12060 Published Accepted Received Academic Editor Xavier Harrison Subject Areas Ecology, Molecular Biology, Veterinary Medicine, Virology, Zoology Keywords American mink, Feral population, Free-ranging population, Fulton’s condition factor, Spleen, Virus prevalence and spread Copyright © 2021 Panicz et al.