HSU professor to discuss wildlife diseases

Because the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center is closed to visitors, monthly lectures sponsored by Friends of the Arcata Marsh (FOAM) will resume via Zoom. Tune in at 7:30 p.m. Friday for a presentation by Humboldt State University wildlife professor and FOAM board member Rick Brown.

Brown’s specialty is wildlife diseases — including those that are tick-borne (for example, Lyme disease) — as well as parasites of local carnivores such as fishers and martens.

His lecture will start with the “One-World-OneHealth” Paradigm and end with descriptions of some dramatic effects of fun, local wildlife diseases like “newtlicking” garter snakes, flukes that cause extra limb formation in frogs, hairloss syndrome in deer and giant kidney worms in otters.

“The paradigm is an integration of environmental health, veterinary health, and human health. Historically, each of these fields has been studied and managed separately, but the obvious overlap suggests that a more holistic approach will benefit these and related fields,” said Brown.

Zoonotic diseases (those shared between humans and nonhuman animals) include notorious pathogens that cause rabies, bubonic plague, Lyme disease and many others.

“We can’t understand transmission risks without considering issues related to humans, nonhuman animals, and the environments in which they live,” Brown said.

Join the Zoom Meeting https://humboldtstate. zoom.us/j/97977673912. Meeting ID: 979 7767 3912. Find your local number: https://humboldtstate. zoom.us/u/adXwt6fXmF.