Long-term Pathological Survey of Icelandic Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta); Renal, Dermatological, and Traumatic Lesions

As part of the USA's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, an Interagency Strategic Plan for the Early Detection of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza in Wild Migratory Birds was developed and implemented. From 1 April 2006 through 31 March 2009, 261,946 samples from wild birds and 101,457 wild bird fecal samples were collected in the USA; no highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected. The United States Department of Agriculture, and state and tribal cooperators accounted for 213,115 (81%) of the wild bird samples collected; 31, 27, 21 and 21% of the samples were collected from the Atlantic, Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways, respectively. More than 250 species of wild birds in all 50 states were sampled. The majority of wild birds (86%) were dabbling ducks, geese, swans and shorebirds. The apparent prevalence of low pathogenic avian influenza viruses during biological years 2007 and 2008 was 9.7 and 11.0%, respectively. The apparent prevalence of H5 and H7 subtypes across all species sampled were 0.5 and 0.06%, respectively. The pooled fecal samples (n= 101,539) positive for low pathogenic avian influenza were 4.0, 6.7 and 4.7% for biological years 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. The highly pathogenic early detection system for wild birds developed and implemented in the USA represents the largest coordinated wildlife disease surveillance system ever conducted. This effort provided evidence that wild birds in the USA were free of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (given the expected minimum prevalence of 0.001%) at the 99.9% confidence level during the surveillance period.

A survey of gastro-intestinal parasitic infection in domestic and wild birds in Chittagong and Greater Sylhet, Bangladesh

Transport characteristics and morphology of the colon and coprodeum in two wild birds of different habitats, the rock ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) and the common murre (Uria aalge)

Rock ptarmigans (Lagopus muta) are gallinaceous birds inhabiting arctic and sub-arctic environments. Their diet varies by season, including plants or plant parts of high nutritional value, but also toxic plant secondary metabolites (PSMs). Little is known about the microbes driving organic matter decomposition in the cecum of ptarmigans, especially the last steps leading to methanogenesis. The cecum microbiome in wild rock ptarmigans from Arctic Norway was characterized to unveil their functional potential for PSM detoxification, methanogenesis and polysaccharides degradation. Cecal samples were collected from wild ptarmigans from Svalbard (L. m. hyperborea) and northern Norway (L. m. muta) during autumn/winter (Sept-Dec). Samples from captive Svalbard ptarmigans fed commercial pelleted feed were included to investigate the effect of diet on microbial composition and function. Abundances of methanogens and bacteria were determined by qRT-PCR, while microbial community composition and functional potential were studied using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and shotgun metagenomics. Abundances of bacteria and methanogenic Archaea were higher in wild ptarmigans compared to captive birds. The ceca of wild ptarmigans housed bacterial groups involved in PSM-degradation, and genes mediating the conversion of phenol compounds to pyruvate. Methanomassiliicoccaceae was the major archaeal family in wild ptarmigans, carrying the genes for methanogenesis from methanol. It might be related to increased methanol production from pectin degradation in wild birds due to a diet consisting of primarily fresh pectin-rich plants. Both wild and captive ptarmigans possessed a broad suite of genes for the depolymerization of hemicellulose and non-cellulosic polysaccharides (e.g. starch). In conclusion, there were no physiological and phenotypical dissimilarities in the microbiota found in the cecum of wild ptarmigans on mainland Norway and Svalbard. While substantial differences in the functional potential for PSM degradation and methanogenesis in wild and captive birds seem to be a direct consequence of their dissimilar diets.

Oxyspirura petrowi is a parasitic nematode that infects wild birds. This parasite has a broad host range, but has recently been reported in high prevalences from native Galliformes species in the United States. In order to better understand the impact O. petrowi has on wild bird populations, we developed a quantitative PCR protocol to detect infections in wild northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus). We used paired fecal and cloacal swab samples from wild caught and experimentally infected northern bobwhites and matching fecal float data from experimentally infected birds to validate our assay. Overall we detected more positive birds from fecal samples than the paired cloacal swabs and there was strong agreement between the qPCR results from fecal samples and from fecal flotation (84%; κ = 0.69 [0.53–0.84 95% CI]). We also detected O. petrowi DNA in ten replicates of samples spiked with one O. petrowi egg. This qPCR assay is an effective assay to detect O. petrowi infections in wild birds. Our results suggest that fecal samples are the most appropriate sample for detecting infections; although, cloacal swabs can be useful for determining if O. petrowi is circulating in a population.

Staphylococcus species is an important foodborne zoonotic pathogen causing diseases in livestock globally. This study focused on identifying biofilm-producing Staphylococcus species in six poultry farms and the nearby wild bird populations.120 samples, including poultry organ samples, (trachea and lung) and 80 environmental samples (litter, water, feed, and fans swabs), from 6 broiler farms in Egypt exhibiting respiratory manifestation. Also, workers nasal swabs along with 50 wild birds’ faecal samples. Isolation and identification of Staphylococcus species were performed using conventional culture techniques and biochemical identification. PCR of the Staphylococcus 16S rRNA gene was performed. A colorimetric microtitration plate assay evaluated the isolates to produce biofilm. The icaD, eno, and fnbA genes were identified by PCR. A total of 45 isolates were obtained, all of which were identified as Staphylococcus species where 30% of organ samples and environmental sources: litter (25%), water (20%), feed (20%), and fan swabs (10%). Additionally, 44% of faecal samples from wild birds and 10% of farm workers nasal swabs Among these, 88.88% (39 out of 45) exhibited varying levels of biofilm production. Molecular analysis showed a high prevalence of biofilm-associated genes, with 35 isolates (77.7%) testing positive for icaD, 28 (62.2%) for eno, and 39 (86.6%) for fnbA. There were no significant differences in Staphylococcus isolation across animal sources or between resident and migratory wild birds (p > 0.05). Biofilm-producing Staphylococcus species are widely prevalent in poultry across Egypt, and the possibility of zoonotic transmission from wild birds to humans is an emerging area of research.

ABSTRACTThe ability of individuals to cope with their environment, and therefore the likelihood that they survive and pass on their genes (i.e. fitness), is largely determined by physiological state. Tracking physiological state in wild animals, however, is challenging. Predominant techniques rely on capture and invasive procedures, restricting research to trappable species and individuals. Additionally, natural behaviours are interrupted, results may be affected by surgery or carrying apparatus, and welfare constraints restrict repeated sampling. Also, the leading non‐invasive alternative – faecal sampling – cannot detect rapid physiological changes. Thermal imaging offers an increasingly popular option for studying physiological state in homeothermic endotherms (birds and mammals). The method resolves many of the above concerns and can infer both fast and slow underlying physiological changes from body surface temperature dynamics. Nonetheless, the generalisability of results across settings and populations remains unclear because systematic synthesis is lacking. Correspondingly, important knowledge gaps may be currently overlooked for the same reason. To address these deficits, we performed a systematic review of research linking endotherm body surface temperatures and the four main physiological functions expected to influence surface temperatures – thermoregulation, metabolism, stress and immune responses. We combined outcomes into consensus profiles to ascertain whether responses are generalisable. We also evaluated article publication metrics, study subjects, and methods to characterise research trends and identify approaches most likely to drive progress. Consensus profiling suggested thermoregulatory, metabolic and acute stress (up to 3 min from stressor onset) body surface temperature responses are likely to be broadly generalisable. By contrast, body surface temperature dynamics during immune activation likely depend on discrete ranges of environmental conditions. However, the reviewed literature demonstrates that we still lack sufficient understanding of the mechanistic processes connecting body surface temperatures with underlying physiology. Therefore, further development of methods for inferring physiology from body surface temperatures in natural environments will require combinations of detailed laboratory validations and confirmatory field studies. Such research would also benefit from greater rigour than is evident in the currently available literature, in terms of routinely validating physiological challenges, avoiding use of stress‐inducing methods, analysing life‐history stage and sex differences, investigating effects of both challenge increase and decrease, and assessing responses across all possible thermoregulatory states. Assuming these knowledge gaps can be filled and technical challenges overcome, inferring physiology in the wild using thermal imaging will present a host of valuable eco‐evolutionary research opportunities surpassing those available with invasive or integrating techniques.

In the Alps tourism, land-use practices and climate change may cause a loss of suitable habitat of rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta helvetica). Hence, there is a need for basic research on population densities and habitat requirements of this species as a basis for long-term monitoring studies. So far, in the Austrian Alps, no accurate data on densities and trends of rock ptarmigan populations are available. We carried out counts of calling cocks in the southeastern part of the Austrian Alps (Nockberge National Park, Carinthia, Austria) between 31 May and 1 July 2003 and evaluated the distribution of male rock ptarmigan territories. The spring density of 5.4 territorial cocks per square kilometre was similar to densities in the Swiss Alps but higher than spring population densities in the Italian Alps and the Pyrenees. To investigate summer habitat use, we established a grid mapping of habitat parameters and rock ptarmigan signs. In total, 38 squares with signs of rock ptarmigan presence were recorded (i.e. 32% of all recorded squares). The presence of rock ptarmigan was significantly correlated with cover of rock and rock ptarmigan preferred habitat patchiness. Our study provides a useful reference for future monitoring of this species in the alpine distribution range considering the potential decrease and fragmentation of alpine habitats resulting from climate change and human impacts.

Up to now only nine whole genome sequences of avian avulavirus 6 (AAvV‐6) had been documented in the world since the first discovery of AAvV‐6 (AAvV‐6/duck/HongKong/18/199/77) at a domestic duck in 1977 from Hong Kong of China. Very limited information is known about the regularities of transmission, genetic and biological characteristics of AAvV‐6 because of the lower isolation rate and mild losses for poultry industry. To better further explore the relationships among above factors, an AAvV‐6 epidemiological surveillance of domestic poultry and wild birds in six provinces of China suspected of sites of inter‐species transmission and being intercontinental flyways during the year 2013–2017 was conducted. Therefore, 9,872 faecal samples from wild birds and 1,642 cloacal and tracheal swab samples from clinically healthy poultry of live bird market (LBM) were collected respectively. However, only one novel hemagglutination‐negative AAvV‐6 isolate (AAvV‐6/mallard/Hubei/2015) was isolated from a fresh faecal sample obtained from mallard at a wetland of Hubei province. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of this AAvV‐6 isolate (AAvV‐6/mallard/Hubei/2015) indicated that this isolate grouping to genotype I were epidemiological intercontinentally linked with viruses from the wild birds in Europe and America. Meanwhile, at least two genotypes (I and II) are existed within serotype AAvV‐6. In additional, this novel hemagglutination‐negative AAvV‐6 isolate in chicken embryos restored its hemagglutination when pre‐treated with trypsin. These findings, together with data from other AAvV‐6, suggest potential epidemiological intercontinental spreads among AAvV‐6 transmission by wild migratory birds, and reveal potential threats to wild birds and domestic poultry worldwide.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Escherichia coli (E. coli) poses a public health concern worldwide. Wild birds and rodents, due to their mobility, are potential vehicles for transmission of AMR bacteria to humans. Ninety-six wild birds’ faecal samples and 135 rodents’ droppings samples were collected and analysed in 2017. Forty-six E. coli isolates from wild birds and rodents were subjected to AMR phenotypic and genotypic characterisation. The proportion of E. coli isolates resistant to at least one of the antimicrobials tested from wild birds (80.8%) was significantly higher than that of isolates from rodents (40.0%). The proportion of E. coli isolates resistant to each antimicrobial class for wild birds was 3.8% to 73.1% and that for rodents was 5.0% to 35.0%. Six out of 26 E. coli isolates from wild birds (23.1%) and two out of 20 (10.0%) isolates from rodents were multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains. These MDR E. coli isolates were detected with various antimicrobial resistance genes such as blaTEM-1B and qnrS1 and could be considered as part of the environmental resistome. Findings in this study suggested that wild birds and rodents could play a role in disseminating antimicrobial resistant E. coli, and this underscores the necessity of environment management and close monitoring on AMR bacteria in wild birds and rodents to prevent spreading of resistant organisms to other wildlife animals and humans.

Samples of Ptarmigan eggs were hatched in captivity. They had been taken from ground adjacent to study areas where the wild birds' breeding success by early August, and their food plants, were measured.Almost all deaths of chicks in captivity occurred within a few days of hatching and examination postmortem showed no specific cause. The proportion of chicks which died in captivity before 15 days of age varied markedly between years and study areas. These variations occurred in parallel with variations in breeding success in the wild populations from which the eggs had been taken. It was concluded that the survival of chicks both in captivity and in the wild was determined in part before the eggs hatched.Variations in breeding success from year to year were correlated with the number of days that the food plants had been growing before the hens finished laying. Breeding success in the wild and chick survival in captivity were better for a ‘rich’ area overlying some base‐rich rocks than for a ‘poor’ one overlying granite and with less blaeberry. It was inferred that, as in Red Grouse, maternal nutrition affected breeding success through the quality of the eggs.

The fat reserves of small birds are built up daily as insurance against starvation. They are believed to reflect a trade-off between the risks of starvation and predation such that in situations of high predation risk birds are expected either to reduce their fat reserves in response to mass-dependent predation risk or to increase them in response to foraging interruptions. We assessed the effect on fat reserves of experimentally altering the perceived (but not the actual) risk of predation of wild great tits at a winter feeding site. The perceived predation risk was alternated between 'safe' and 'risky'. Increasing the perceived risk of predation involved 'swooping' a model sparrowhawk over the feeder at four unpredictable times each day using a remote mechanism We produce evidence that the experiment was suceessfull in altering the perceived risk of predation. As predicted from the hypothesis of mass-dependent predation risk, great tits (Parus major) carried significantly reduced fat reserves during the 'risky' treatment. Furthermore, dominant individuals were able to reduce their reserves more than subordinates. As birds returned to feeders within seconds after a predator 'attack', the reduction in fat reserves cannot be attributed to an interruption in feeding.

Avian reoviruses (ARVs) cause severe arthritis, tenosynovitis, pericarditis, and depressed growth in chickens, and these conditions have become increasingly frequent in recent years. Studies on the role of wild birds in the epidemiology of ARVs are insufficient. This study provides information about currently circulating ARVs in wild birds by gene detection using diagnostic RT-PCR, virus isolation, and genomic characterization. In this study, we isolated and identified 10 ARV isolates from 7,390 wild birds' fecal samples, including migratory bird species (bean goose, Eurasian teal, Indian spot-billed duck, and mallard duck) from 2015 to 2019 in South Korea. On comparing the amino acid sequences of the σC-encoding gene, most isolates, except A18-13, shared higher sequence similarity with the commercial vaccine isolate S1133 and Chinese isolates. However, the A18-13 isolate is similar to live attenuated vaccine av-S1133 and vaccine break isolates (SD09-1, LN09-1, and GX110116). For the p10- and p17-encoding genes, all isolates have identical fusion associated small transmembrane (FAST) protein and nuclear localization signal (SNL) motif to chicken-origin ARVs. Phylogenetic analysis of the amino acid sequences of the σC-encoding gene revealed that all isolates were belonged to genotypic cluster I. For the p10- and p17-encoding genes, the nucleotide sequences of all isolates indicated close relationship with commercial vaccine isolate S1133 and Chinese isolates. For the σNS-encoding gene, the nucleotide sequences of all isolates indicated close relationship with the Californian chicken-origin isolate K1600657 and belonged to chicken-origin ARV cluster. Our data indicates that wild birds ARVs were derived from the chicken farms. This finding suggests that wild birds serve as natural carriers of such viruses for domestic poultry.

Experiments designed to determine the effect of autumn and spring hunting on rock ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) population trends were conducted in the Tanana Hills, interior Alaska, from 1967 to 1972. Approximately 40 percent of the autumn population of a 10.4-km2 area was removed by shooting in 3 consecutive years (1967-69). During May of 1971 and 1972, 40 percent of the breeding population of a 7.5-km2 area was similarly removed. Comparisons of annual breeding densities on the experimental and control areas suggested that neither autumn nor spring removals at the 40 percent level depressed rock ptarmigan breeding stocks the following year. There was some evidence that autumn removals may have contributed to higher breeding densities the subsequent spring. In most cases, males shot in the spring were not replaced until the following year. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 39(3):491-495 The Alaska Department of Fish and Game studied the effect of hunting on rock ptarmigan populations in interior Alaska from 1967 to 1972. The ptarmigan hunting season in most of Alaska extends from August through April, but the majority of the harvest occurs during the periods August through September and February through March (Weeden 1963). Annual harvests by sportsmen are small, and most of the hunting pressure is restricted to relatively narrow bands along access routes. With the increase in human population, creation of new roads, and year-round maintenance of existing roads, ptarmigan harvests are expected to increase sharply over the next decade. Experimental removals simulating hunting by sportsmen were conducted in the autumn during 1967-69 and in spring of 1971 and 1972 to determine the effects of such hunting on trends in breeding stocks. Thanks are extended to R. B. Weeden, University of Alaska, who designed and conducted the fall studies and provided valuable assistance in preparation of this manuscript. Alaska Department of Fish and Game personnel who deserve special thanks for their assistance in removal or census activities are T. Bendock, W. Brunner, J. Burns, D. Haggstrom, P. Headley, R. Hinman, S. Kogl, R. Modaferri, K. Neiland, and R. A. Rausch. I am grateful to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for the opportunity to conduct this study in connection with Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Project W-17-1 through 5, Job 10.5.

THE complex annual plumage changes of Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) have attracted frequent study. Two investigations are outstanding in scope and thoroughness: Salomonsen's (1939) monumental work on descriptive aspects of plumages and feather replacement and A. Watson's study (The annual cycle of Rock Ptarmigan. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1956) of free-ranging ptarmigan in arctic Canada and Scotland. Careful examination of hundreds of museum skins enabled Salomonsen to postulate a number of relationships between molt and breeding cycles; many of these ideas were confirmed by Watson's extensive field research. I was able to get information on summer plumage changes of live-trapped Rock Ptarmigan while studying population changes among these birds on breeding grounds in central Alaska. These observations, made in an area from which Salomonsen had little material and where Watson had few field observations, extend and clarify some aspects of molt discussed by those authors. This is especially true regarding year-to-year changes in molting schedules and the rates of molt of remiges. I am grateful to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for the opportunity to gather and analyze these data in connection with Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Projects W-6-R and W-13-R. My wife, Judith S. Weeden, Alan Courtright of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and George C. West, Laboratory of Zoophysiology, University of Alaska, reviewed and ably criticized the manuscript.