white ibis
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2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2468
Author(s):  
Katherine F. Christie ◽  
Rebecca L. Poulson ◽  
Julia Silva Seixas ◽  
Sonia M. Hernandez

The White Ibis (Eudocimus albus), a nomadic wading bird, has increased its exploitation of urban habitats in South Florida, United States, and has recently established several urban breeding colonies. Certain characteristics of ibis ecology could position them in the natural cycle of the avian influenza virus (AIV). In fact, experimentally infected ibises were shown to be competent hosts for multiple AIV subtypes, and seroconversion to AIV has been documented in adult ibises in natural populations. However, the mechanisms of transmission and the timing of infection are unclear as we have yet to isolate AIV from a free-living ibis. To investigate the age-specific AIV dynamics of ibis, we captured nestlings (n = 115) weekly for 1–4 weeks from urban and natural settings in 2020 and 2021. We collected choanal/cloacal swabs for rRT-PCR and virus isolation, and plasma to screen for maternal AIV antibodies. AIV was not detected in any individual by virus isolation; however, maternal antibodies to AIV were detected in 95% of nestlings, with varying rates of catabolism. These results confirm that nestlings are afforded maternal antibodies from adults at rates reflective of higher adult seroprevalence than previously documented and that nestlings in breeding colonies may have some degree of protection and are unlikely to become infected with AIV.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1015
Author(s):  
Susan I. Anstey ◽  
Vasilli Kasimov ◽  
Cheryl Jenkins ◽  
Alistair Legione ◽  
Joanne Devlin ◽  
...  

Chlamydia psittaci is traditionally regarded as a globally distributed avian pathogen that can cause zoonotic spill-over. Molecular research has identified an extended global host range and significant genetic diversity. However, Australia has reported a reduced host range (avian, horse, and human) with a dominance of clonal strains, denoted ST24. To better understand the widespread of this strain type in Australia, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and ompA genotyping were applied on samples from a range of hosts (avian, equine, marsupial, and bovine) from Australia. MLST confirms that clonal ST24 strains dominate infections of Australian psittacine and equine hosts (82/88; 93.18%). However, this study also found novel hosts (Australian white ibis, King parrots, racing pigeon, bovine, and a wallaby) and demonstrated that strain diversity does exist in Australia. The discovery of a C. psittaci novel strain (ST306) in a novel host, the Western brush wallaby, is the first detection in a marsupial. Analysis of the results of this study applied a multidisciplinary approach regarding Chlamydia infections, equine infectious disease, ecology, and One Health. Recommendations include an update for the descriptive framework of C. psittaci disease and cell biology work to inform pathogenicity and complement molecular epidemiology.


The Condor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tasso C Cocoves ◽  
Mark I Cook ◽  
Jeffrey L Kline ◽  
Lori Oberhofer ◽  
Nathan J Dorn

Abstract As avian reproductive success is generally prey limited, identifying important prey types or sizes and understanding mechanisms governing prey availability are important objectives for avian conservation ecology. Irruptive White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) nesting at coastal colonies in the southern Everglades numbered over 100,000 nests in the 1930s. A century of drainage and altered hydrologic patterns reduced aquatic prey availability and eliminated large nesting events; nesting activity in recent decades has been typically less than 5% of historical peaks. Hydrologic restoration is expected to increase ibis nesting activity, but which prey types will support high nesting effort is less clear. In 2017 and 2018, we collected food boluses from White Ibis chicks at coastal colonies in Everglades National Park. We also monitored regional nesting activity from 1999 to 2018. In 2017, the region had 1,075 nests, typical of the past several decades; but in 2018, there were 30,420 nests, representing the highest recorded nesting activity in 87 yr. Prey composition varied between years; estuarine crabs dominated nestling boluses in 2017, while crayfish and fish were dominant prey in 2018. Crayfish, especially Procambarus alleni, were heavily exploited by ibis early in the 2018 breeding season, while fish were used more at the end. Crayfish abundances in wetlands near the colonies were higher prior to 2018, and more crayfish-producing short-hydroperiod wetlands remained available for ibis foraging in 2018. Our results support previous studies indicating that crayfish are important prey for breeding ibises and suggest that unprecedented, extensive flooding of seasonal wetlands promoted crayfish production and initiated the irruptive breeding in 2018. Our observations indicate that rehydration of the southern Everglades could restore ibis nesting activity at coastal colonies, but further investigations of hydrologic variation, crayfish production, and ibis foraging and nesting activity will be helpful to understand these dynamics and the importance of short-hydroperiod wetlands.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire S. Teitelbaum ◽  
Jeffrey Hepinstall-Cymerman ◽  
Anjelika Kidd-Weaver ◽  
Sonia M. Hernandez ◽  
Sonia Altizer ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mobile animals transport nutrients and propagules across habitats, and are crucial for the functioning of food webs and for ecosystem services. Human activities such as urbanization can alter animal movement behavior, including site fidelity and resource use. Because many urban areas are adjacent to natural sites, mobile animals might connect natural and urban habitats. More generally, understanding animal movement patterns in urban areas can help predict how urban expansion will affect the roles of highly mobile animals in ecological processes. Methods Here, we examined movements by a seasonally nomadic wading bird, the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus), in South Florida, USA. White ibis are colonial wading birds that forage on aquatic prey; in recent years, some ibis have shifted their behavior to forage in urban parks, where they are fed by people. We used a spatial network approach to investigate how individual movement patterns influence connectivity between urban and non-urban sites. We built a network of habitat connectivity using GPS tracking data from ibis during their non-breeding season and compared this network to simulated networks that assumed individuals moved indiscriminately with respect to habitat type. Results We found that the observed network was less connected than the simulated networks, that urban-urban and natural-natural connections were strong, and that individuals using urban sites had the least-variable habitat use. Importantly, the few ibis that used both urban and natural habitats contributed the most to connectivity. Conclusions Habitat specialization in urban-acclimated wildlife could reduce the exchange of propagules and nutrients between urban and natural areas, which has consequences both for beneficial effects of connectivity such as gene flow and for detrimental effects such as the spread of contaminants or pathogens.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 8416-8428
Author(s):  
Caroline R. Cummings ◽  
Sonia M. Hernandez ◽  
Maureen Murray ◽  
Taylor Ellison ◽  
Henry C. Adams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie S. Bahnson ◽  
Sonia M. Hernandez ◽  
Rebecca L. Poulson ◽  
Robert E. Cooper ◽  
Shannon E. Curry ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-390
Author(s):  
Paul Allatson ◽  
Andrea Connor

The Australian White Ibis (Ibis) ( Threskiornis molucca) is one of three endemic Ibis species in Australia. In a short time frame beginning in the 1970s, this species has moved from inland waterways to urban centres along the eastern and southeastern seaboards, Darwin and the Western Australian southwest. Today Ibis are at home in cities across the country, where they thrive on the food waste, water resources and nesting sites supplied by humans. In this article, the authors focus on Sydney to argue that the physical and cultural inroads of Ibis, and the birds’ urban homeliness, are resignifying urban surfaces and the multispecies ecologies in which contemporary Australians operate. They explore how the very physical and sensory presence of Ibis disrupts the assumptions of many urban Australians, and visitors from overseas, that cities are human-centric or human-dominant, non-hybrid assemblages. They also introduce to this discussion of disrupted human expectations a cultural parallel, namely, the recent rise of Ibis in popular culture as an icon-in-the-making of the nation and as a totem of the modern Australian city itself. This trend exemplifies an avian-led revisualization of urban spaces, and is notable for its visual appeals to Ibis kitsch, and to working class or ‘bogan’ sensibilities that assert their place alongside cosmopolitan visions of being Australian. Sometimes kitsch Ibis imagery erupts across the urban landscape, as occurs with many Ibis murals. At other times it infiltrates daily life on clothing, on football club, university and business logos, as tattoos on people’s skin, and as words in daily idiom, confirmed by terms such as ‘picnic pirates’, ‘tip turkeys’ and ‘bin chickens’. The article uses a visual vignette methodology to chart Ibis moves into Sydney and the realms of representation alike, and thus to reveal how new zoöpolitical entanglements are being made in the 21st century.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 15572-15586
Author(s):  
Harsha D. Neelgund ◽  
Girish Kadadevaru

An observation on avian species composition, density, and diversity was carried out at three selected water bodies of Khanapur Taluka, Belagavi District, for a period of 11 months in 2014.  During the study, a total of 28 species belonging to 12 families from five orders were recorded.  Of these, Ciconiiformes was represented by seven families followed by Coraciiformes by two families while Anseriformes, Charadriiformes and Gruiformes were represented by one family each.  Among the three water bodies studied, maximum species composition (26 species) was recorded from Nandgad pond which also hosts Lesser Adjutant Stork and Wooly-necked Stork categorized as ‘Vulnerable’ and Painted Stork, River Tern and Oriental White Ibis as ‘Near Threatened’ by the IUCN Red List.  Bidi Minor Irrigation Tank stands second with 17 species while the minimum was recorded at Hebbal Minor Irrigation Tank with 11 species.  Based on our observation, a smaller habitat with habitat heterogeneity can attract more assemblages of avifauna and also result in increased species richness and diversity. 


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Heath ◽  
Peter C. Frederick ◽  
James A. Kushlan ◽  
Keith L. Bildstein
Keyword(s):  

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