Themes

• All projects
• Endangered species
• Farming and Wildlife
• Fundamental biology
• Invasives
• Land use and biodiversity
• Wildlife as a resource

Research

References

For a comprehensive Badger Project summary see WildCRU’s recent book: 

Macdonald, D.W., Newman, C. & Buesching, C.D. (2015) Badgers in the rural landscape – Conservation paragon or farming pariah: Lessons from the he Wytham Badger Project. In: Wildlife Conservation on Farmland. Volume 2: Conflict in the Countryside (Eds DW Macdonald & RE Feber). Oxford University press.

And we eagerly await the release of our new book, in September 2017, and chapters pertaining to our badger work therein:

Biology and Conservation of Musteloids. Eds DW Macdonald, C Newman and L.A. Harrington. Oxford University Press.

Chapters:

Musteloid Diseases – Implications for conservation and species management:  By C. Newman & A. Byrne.

Musteloid sociality: The grass-roots of society. By D.W. Macdonald & C. Newman.

Meline Mastery of Meteorological Mayhem: The effects of climate changeability on European badger population dynamics. By C. Newman, C.D. Buesching & D.W. Macdonald.

Asian badgers – the same, only different: How diversity among badger societies informs socio-ecological theory and challenges conservation.亚洲獾类. By Y. Zhou, C. Newman,Y. Kaneko, C.D. C.D., W. Chen, Z-M. Zhou, Z. Xie & D.W. Macdonald.

Recent Journal Publications:

To find any of these publications check out titles at ‘Google Scholar’.

Macdonald, D.W., C. Newman, C.D. Buesching and P.J. Johnson. (2008). Male-biased movement in a high-density population of the Eurasian badger (Meles meles). Journal of Mammalogy, 89:1077-1086.

Kilshaw, K., Newman, C., Buesching, C.D., Bunyan, J. & Macdonald, D.W. (2009). Investigating coordinated latrine use by European badgers Meles meles: Potential consequences for territory defence. Journal of Mammalogy, 90: 1188-1198.

Macdonald, D.W., Newman, C., Nouvellet, P.M. & Buesching, C.D. (2009). An analysis of Eurasian badger (Meles meles) population dynamics: Implications for regulatory mechanisms. Journal of Mammalogy, 90: 1392-1403.

Macdonald, D.W., Newman, C., Buesching, C.D. and Nouvellet, P. (2010). Are badgers ‘Under The Weather’? Direct and indirect impacts of climate variation on European badger (Meles meles) population dynamics. Global Change Biology, 16: 2913–2922

Nouvellet, P., Buesching, C. D., Dugdale, H. L., Newman, C. and Macdonald, D. W. (2011). Mouthing off about developmental stress: Individuality of palate marking in the European badger and its relationship with juvenile parasitoses. Journal of Zoology, 283: 52–62.

Dugdale HL, Davison D, Baker SE, Ellwood SA, Newman C, Buesching CD & Macdonald DW. (2011). Female teat size is a reliable indicator of annual breeding success in European badgers: genetic validation. Mammalian Biology, 76: 716–721.

Dugdale HL, Pope LC, Newman C, Macdonald DW & Burke T. (2011). Age-specific breeding success in a wild mammalian population: selection, constraint, restraint and senescence. Molecular Ecology 20: 3261–3274.

Annavi G, Dawson DA, Horsburgh GJ, Greig C, Dugdale HL, Newman C, Macdonald DW, Burke T. (2011). Characterisation of twenty-one European badger (Meles meles) microsatellite loci facilitates the discrimination of second-order relatives. Conservation Genetic Resources, 3: 515–518.

Lizundia R, Newman C, Buesching CD, Ngugi D, Blake D, et al. (2011). Evidence for a Role of the Host-Specific Flea (Paraceras melis) in the Transmission of Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) pestanai to the European Badger. PLoS ONE 6(2): e16977. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016977

Montes, I., Newman, C., Mian, R. and Macdonald, D. W. (2011). Radical health: ecological corollaries of body condition, transport stress and season on plasma antioxidant capacity in the European badger. Journal of Zoology 284: 114–123.

Newman, C., Zhou, Y-B., Buesching, C.D., Kaneko, Y. & Macdonald, D.W. (2011). Contrasting sociality in two widespread, generalist, mustelid genera, Meles and Martes. Mammal Study, 36:169-188.

Sin YW, Dugdale HL, Newman C, Macdonald DW & Burke T. (2012). MHC class II genes in the European badger (Meles meles): characterization, patterns of variation, and transcription analysis. Immunogenetics, 64: 313–327.

Sin, YW, Dugdale HL, Newman C, Macdonald DW & Burke T. (2012). Evolution of MHC class I genes in the European badger (Meles meles). Ecology and Evolution, 2: 1644-1662.

Nouvellet, P., Newman, C., Buesching, C. D., & Macdonald, D. W. (2013). A Multi-Metric Approach to Investigate the Effects of Weather Conditions on the Demographic of a Terrestrial Mammal, the European Badger (Meles meles). PloS one, 8(7), e68116.

Bilham, K., Sin, Y. W., Newman, C., Buesching, C. D., & Macdonald, D. W. (2013). An example of life history antecedence in the European badger (Meles meles): rapid development of juvenile antioxidant capacity, from plasma vitamin E analogue. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 25: 330-350.

Noonan M.J., Markham, A., Newman, C. Buesching, C.D., Ellwood, S.A. & Macdonald, D.W. (2014) Climate and the Individual: Inter-Annual Variation in the Autumnal Activity of the European Badger (Meles meles). PloS one, 9(1), e83156.

Annavi, G., Newman, C., Buesching, C.D., Burke, T  Macdonald, & Dugdale, H.L. D.W (2014) Heterozygosity–fitness correlations in a wild mammal population: single locus, paternal and environmental effects. Ecology and Evolution, 4: 2594–2609.

Annavi, G., Newman, C., Dugdale, H.L. Buesching, C.D., Sin, Y.W. Burke, T &  Macdonald, D.W (2014) Neighbouring-group composition and relatedness drive extra-group paternity rate in the European badger (Meles meles). Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27: 2191–2203.

Sin, Y. W., Annavi, G., Dugdale, H. L., Newman, C., Burke, T., & Macdonald, D. W. (2014). Pathogen burden, co‐infection and major histocompatibility complex variability in the European badger (Meles meles). Molecular Ecology, 23: 5072-5088.

Newman, C. & Macdonald, D.W. (2015). The Implications of climate change for terrestrial UK Mammals. Terrestrial biodiversity Climate change impacts report card Technical paper. Living with environmental change partnership. NERC. http://www.lwec.org.uk/sites/default/files/Mammals.pdf

Noonan, M. J., Markham, A., Newman, C., Trigoni, N., Buesching, C. D., Ellwood, S. A., & Macdonald, D. W. (2015). A new Magneto‐Inductive tracking technique to uncover subterranean activity: what do animals do underground? Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 6: 510-520.

Sin, Y. W., Annavi, G., Newman, C., Buesching, C., Burke, T., Macdonald, D. W., & Dugdale, H. L. (2015). MHC class II‐assortative mate choice in European badgers (Meles meles). Molecular Ecology, 24: 3138-3150.

Noonan, M. J., Rahman, M. A., Newman, C., Buesching, C. D., & Macdonald, D. W. (2015). Avoiding verisimilitude when modelling ecological responses to climate change: the influence of weather conditions on trapping efficiency in European badgers (Meles meles). Global Change Biology, 21: 3575-3585.

Byrne, A. W., Fogarty, U., O’Keeffe, J., & Newman, C. (2015). In situ adaptive response to climate and habitat quality variation: spatial and temporal variation in European badger (Meles meles) body weight. Global change biology, 21(9), 3336-3346.

Noonan, M. J., Newman, C., Buesching, C. D., & Macdonald, D. W. (2015). Evolution and function of fossoriality in the Carnivora: implications for group-living. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 3.

Tinnesand, HV, Buesching, CD, Noonan, MJ, Newman, C, Zedrosser, A, Rossel, FN & Macdonald, DW (2015). Will trespassers be prosecuted or assessed according to their merits? A consilient interpretation of territoriality in a group-living Carnivore, the European badger (Meles meles). PloS one, 10(7), e0132432.

Sun, Q., Stevens, C., Newman, C., Buesching, C. D., & Macdonald, D. W. (2015). Cumulative experience, age-class, sex and season affect the behavioural responses of European badgers (Meles meles) to handling and sedation. Animal Welfare, 24: 373-385.

Sin, Y. W., Newman, C., Dugdale, H. L Buesching, C.D., Mannarelli, M-E., Annavi, G., C., Burke, T., & Macdonald, D. W. (2016). No compensatory relationship between the innate and adaptive immune system in wild-living European badgers. PLoS-1 11(10), e0163773

Buesching, C. D., Newman, C., Service, K., Macdonald, D. W., & Riordan, P. (2016). Latrine marking patterns of badgers (Meles meles) with respect to population density and range size. Ecosphere, 7(5).

Clinchy, M., Zanette, L. Y., Roberts, D., Suraci, J. P., Buesching, C. D., Newman, C., & Macdonald, D. W. (2016). Fear of the human “super predator” far exceeds the fear of large carnivores in a model mesocarnivore. Behavioral Ecology, 27: 1826-1832.

Silva, A.P, Curviera-Santos, G. Kilshaw, K., Newman, C., Macdonald, D.W.  Simões, L & Rosalino, L.M.  (2017). Climatic conditions and anthropogenic factors determine site occupancy in a range-edge badger population: implications for conservation under environmental change. Diversity and Distributions, 2: 627-639.

Bilham, K., Boyd, A. Newman, C., Buesching, C.D., Preston, S., Macdonald, D.W. & Smith, A. (2017). Badger macrophages fail to produce nitric oxide, a key anti-mycobacterial effector molecule. Nature – Scientific Reports, 7

Ellwood, S.A., Newman, C., Montgomery, R.A., Vincenzo, N., Buesching, C.D., Markham, A. Mascalo, C., Trigoni, N., Pasztor, B., Dyo, C. & Macdonald, D.W. (in press).  An Active Radio Frequency Identification system capable of identifying co-locations and social-structure: validation with a wild free-ranging animal. Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Collaborative work on exotic badgers and other mustelids in Asia

Zhou, Y.B., Slade, E., Newman, C., Wang, X.M. & Zhang, S.Y. (2008a). Frugivory and seed dispersal by the yellow–throated marten, Martes flavigula, in a subtropical forest of China. J. Trop. Ecol. 24, 219–223.

Zhou, Y.B., Zhang, L., Kaneko, Y., Newman, C. & Wang, X.M. (2008c). Frugivory and seed dispersal by a small carnivore, the Chinese ferret-badger, Melogale moschata, in a fragmented subtropical forest of central China. Forest. Ecol. Manag. 255: 1595–1603.

Zhang, L. Zhou, Y.B., Newman, C., Kaneko, Y., Macdonald, D.W., Jiang, P.P. & Ding, P. (2009) Niche overlap and sett-site resource partitioning for two sympatric species of badger. Ethology Ecology & Evolution 21: 89-100.

Zhang, L., Wang, Y. Zhou, Y.B., Newman, C., Kaneko, Y., Macdonald, D.W., Jiang, P.P. & Ding, P. (2010). Ranging and activity patterns of the group-living ferret badger Melogale moschata in central China. Journal of Mammalogy 91:101–108.

Zhou, Y.B., Newman, C., Buesching, C.D., Zalewski, A., Kaneko, Y. & Macdonald, D.W. & Xie, Z-Q. (2011) Diet of an opportunistically frugivorous carnivore, Martes flavigula, in subtropical forest. Journal of Mammalogy, 92: 611-619.

Zhou, Y.B., Newman, C., Buesching, C.D., Zalewski, A., Kaneko, Y., Macdonald, D.W. & Xie, Z.Q. (2011) Biogeographical patterns in the diet of genus Martes across the Holarctic region: factors affecting trophic diversity. Journal of Biogeography 38: 137-147.

Zhou, Y-B., Newman, C., Chen, J., Xie, Z-Q. & Macdonald, D.W. (2013). An anomalous and extreme weather event disrupts an obligate seed dispersal mutualism: Snow in a sub-tropical forest ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 19: 2867-2877.

Zhou, Y., Newman, C., Xie, Z., & Macdonald, D. W. (2013). Peduncles elicit large-mammal endozoochory in a dry-fruited plant. Annals of botany, 112: 85-93.

Kaneko, Y., Kanda, E., Tashima, S., Masuda, R., Newman, C. & Macdonald, D.W. (2014) Japanese badger (Meles anakuma) socio-spatial dynamics Journal of Mammalogy 95: 290-300.

Zhou, Y.B., Chen, W., Kaneko, Y., Newman, C., Liao, Z.,Zhu, X. Buesching, C., Xie, Z. & Macdonald, D.W. (2015). Seasonal variation in diet and food resource exploitation by the Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) in a subtropical forest of China. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 61: 125-133.

Zhou, Y., Chen, W., Buesching, C. D., Newman, C., Kaneko, Y., Xiang, M., … & Xie, Z. (2015). Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) latrine use in relation to food abundance: evidence of the scarce factor paradox. Ecosphere, 6: 1-12.

Chen, W., Newman, C., Liu, Z., Kaneko, Y., Omote, K., Masuda, R., … & Zhou, Y. (2015). The illegal exploitation of hog badgers (Arctonyx collaris) in China: genetic evidence exposes regional population impacts. Conservation Genetics Resources, 7: 697-704.

The Badger Project
Background
How do we study badgers?
Insights into badger society
Genetics and mate choice
Social interactions
The effects of weather conditions on badger population dynamics
What we need
Our current team