This project focuses on improving our understanding of how current and previous infection with avian influenza viruses impact the movement ecology of wild waterfowl species.
With the recent incursion of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus to North America (Dec 2021), there is great uncertainty in how this virus may affect and be spread by wild birds. The objective of this study is to (1) understand how this new virus may (or may not) impact behavioral and movement patterns of infected wild waterfowl across the species host range, and (2) to explore what this means for the potential for disease persistence and transmission.
To help us answer these questions we are working with collaborators across the country to collect avian influenza samples from a wide range of waterbird species associated that are already being marked with GPS transmitters by other ongoing projects. We then use the paired infection and movement data to explore metrics such as feeding rate, space use patterns, migration initiation date, migration speed, stopover frequency and duration, along with other behavioral metrics, as needed and as available. While efforts are ongoing, this project has already yielded the first ever tracking data for an HPAI infected wild bird in North America (a lesser scaup).
Data regarding the movement ecology of infected birds is critical to answering such questions but is almost completely nonexistent in the literature, due in large part to the high cost of transmitters and relatively low infection prevalence in wild birds. By leveraging extensive ongoing studies this project provides a unique opportunity to gather an extensive dataset at a fraction of the cost and time it would take to perform such work independently. This timeliness is important given that uncertainty in HPAI virus transmission and subsequent impacts to wild, agriculture, and potentially human health is unknown.
- Overview
This project focuses on improving our understanding of how current and previous infection with avian influenza viruses impact the movement ecology of wild waterfowl species.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.A Northern Pintail marked with a GPS transmitter. Caption: Data from birds marked with GPS transmitters, when paired with disease sampling, can help us learn about how infection impacts movement ecology. With the recent incursion of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus to North America (Dec 2021), there is great uncertainty in how this virus may affect and be spread by wild birds. The objective of this study is to (1) understand how this new virus may (or may not) impact behavioral and movement patterns of infected wild waterfowl across the species host range, and (2) to explore what this means for the potential for disease persistence and transmission.
To help us answer these questions we are working with collaborators across the country to collect avian influenza samples from a wide range of waterbird species associated that are already being marked with GPS transmitters by other ongoing projects. We then use the paired infection and movement data to explore metrics such as feeding rate, space use patterns, migration initiation date, migration speed, stopover frequency and duration, along with other behavioral metrics, as needed and as available. While efforts are ongoing, this project has already yielded the first ever tracking data for an HPAI infected wild bird in North America (a lesser scaup).
Data regarding the movement ecology of infected birds is critical to answering such questions but is almost completely nonexistent in the literature, due in large part to the high cost of transmitters and relatively low infection prevalence in wild birds. By leveraging extensive ongoing studies this project provides a unique opportunity to gather an extensive dataset at a fraction of the cost and time it would take to perform such work independently. This timeliness is important given that uncertainty in HPAI virus transmission and subsequent impacts to wild, agriculture, and potentially human health is unknown.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.USGS map showing the movement of a lesser scaup infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (red line) compared to four lesser scaup not infected (maroon, yellow, blue and black lines). Movement was recorded January 23 to 26, 2022. The black dot identifies where the birds were captured and released in Maryland. Scientists did not know the one bird was infected with avian influenza when it was released back into the wild. - Publications
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