Waterfowl Spring Migratory Behavior and Avian Influenza Transmission Risk in the Changing Landscape of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

作者：Jeffery D. Sullivan, John Y. Takekawa, Kyle A. Spragens, Scott H. Newman, Xiangming Xiao, Paul J. Leader, Bena Smith, Diann J. Prosser · 发表于：Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.3389/fevo.2018.00206 · 被引用次数：42 · 研究领域：Influenza Virus Research Studies、Avian ecology and behavior、Viral Infections and Vectors

Avian influenza has advanced from a regional concern to a global health issue with significant economic, trade, and public health implications. Wild birds, particularly waterfowl (Anseriformes), are known reservoirs for low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (AIV) and recent studies have shown their potential in the spread of highly pathogenic forms of virus. East Asia remains an epicenter for the emergence of novel strains of AIV, however, information on movement ecology of waterfowl, and subsequently a clearer understanding of disease transmission risks in this region has been greatly lacking. To address this, we marked two species of wild waterfowl, northern pintail (Anas acuta) and Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope), with satellite transmitters on their wintering grounds in Hong Kong, China to study the northward spring migration in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway in relation to disease transmission factors. Northern pintail were found to initiate migration 42 days earlier, travel 2150 km farther, and perform 4.4 more stopovers than Eurasian wigeon. We found both species used similar stopover locations including areas along the Yangtze River near Shanghai, Bohai Bay and Korea Bay in rapidly developing regions of the Yellow Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk where the species appeared to funnel through a migratory bottleneck. Both species appeared to exhibit strong habitat selection for rice paddies during migration stopovers, a habitat preference which has the potential to influ...