White-tailed deer population declines in a high-prevalence chronic wasting disease region of Arkansas, USA
Heather E. Gaya, Marcelo H. Jorge, Lisa A. Jorge, Mark G. Ruder, Gino J. D’Angelo, Richard B. Chandler, Michael J. Chamberlain, Byron Caughey, Byron Caughey, Byron Caughey, Byron Caughey
TL;DR
This study shows that chronic wasting disease in deer leads to population declines in Arkansas, with males being more affected than females.
Contribution
The study provides empirical evidence of CWD's impact on deer population viability through long-term density monitoring.
Findings
Deer densities declined by an average of 17% per year across three study sites.
Male deer densities declined faster (23% per year) than female deer (15% per year).
Current harvest regulations may not be sustainable for the studied deer populations.
Abstract
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting cervids worldwide. CWD was first detected in Arkansas in 2015 and as of August 2025 has been detected in 24 counties across the state. Within the Tier 1 CWD management zone of northern Arkansas, average apparent CWD prevalence exceeded 25% at the onset of our study in 2021. We tested the hypothesis that high prevalence of CWD negatively affects white-tailed deer population viability. We collected data from 243 camera traps and deployed GPS-collars on 131 adult deer to monitor population dynamics. Using spatial mark-resight models, we estimated density of adult deer from 2021 to 2024 at three sites across a presumed CWD gradient to assess the impacts of high CWD prevalence on deer abundance. Deer densities declined at all three study sites, at an average 17% (95% CI: 8% − 24%) decline per year.…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18
Figure 19
Figure 20
Figure 21
Figure 22
Figure 23
Figure 24
Figure 25
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 28
Figure 29
Figure 30
Figure 31
Figure 32
Figure 33
Figure 34
Figure 35
Figure 36
Figure 37
Figure 38
Figure 39
Figure 40
Figure 41
Figure 42
Figure 43
Figure 44
Figure 45Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsPrion Diseases and Protein Misfolding · Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology · Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals