Investigation of Parasites and Other Pathogens Associated with Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) Declines in Tennessee

This multi-part research project was carried out in order to investigate and address disease aspects which may be at play in the Middle Tennessee Wild Turkey population. This population has been experiencing declines since a restoration period which spanned from 1990-2000. In combined effort with Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and collaboration with other research groups at the University of Tennessee, this survey of parasites and diseases of known risk to Wild Turkeys was carried out in the study population from 2020-2023. We evaluated the prevalence of the following pathogens for three field seasons: Histomonas meleagridis, Toxoplasma gondii, Leucocytozoon smithi, Haemoproteus spp., Plasmodium spp., avian influenza, Newcastle disease virus, Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae, Eimeria spp., Ascarid spp., Cestodes, and Capillaria spp. Additionally, a retrospective study was conducted to synthesize archived reports of any post-mortem submissions of abnormal Wild Turkeys from the state to the University of Tennessee or to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study from 2000-2023. Our overall results provide both a surveillance report of baseline pathogen prevalence during the study period as well as can help inform management as to what disease aspects are circulating in the population and the relative impacts of each.