MooseCounterPOPd Web Interactive: Software to investigate the population scale impact of Brain Worm and Liver Fluke in Moose in New York, USA from 2015-2019
Population matrix models help researchers and wildlife managers assess differing conservation consequences to various managerial strategies. We used the annual counts of calf, young adult, and mature adult moose in the Adirondack region of New York, USA between 2015 and 2019 in conjunction with veterinary data from necropsies of moose in New York State to understand the population scale influences of lethal parasites on their population viability. Results from three combinatorial optimization algorithms were used to estimate the life table, predicted annual abundances, growth rates (asymptotic, transient and cumulative), stable stage distribution, reproductive value, survival rates, sensitivities, elasticities, damping ratios, harmonic and arithmetic mean abundances, and reactivity in the presence and absence of brain worm and liver fluke. This interactive software displays the results and may be modified to investigate the population scale impacts to moose of other diseases in New York state.