West Nile Virus and California Breeding Bird Declines |
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Authors: | Walter D Koenig Lauren Marcus Thomas W Scott Janis L Dickinson |
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Institution: | (1) Hastings Reservation, University of California Berkeley, 38601 E. Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley, CA, 93924, United States;(2) California Department of Health Services, Richmond, CA, United States;(3) Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, United States;(4) Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States |
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Abstract: | Since it was first detected in 1999, West Nile virus (WNV) quickly spread, becoming the dominant vector-borne disease in North
America. Sometimes fatal to humans, WNV is even more widespread among birds, with hundreds of species known to be susceptible
to WNV infection in North America alone. However, despite considerable mortality and local declines observed in American crows
(Corvus brachyrhynchos), there has been little evidence of a large regional association between WNV susceptibility and population declines of any
species. Here we demonstrate a correlation between susceptibility to WNV measured by large-scale testing of dead birds and
two indices of overall population change among bird species following the spread of WNV throughout California. This result
was due primarily to declines in four species of Corvidae, including all species in this family except common ravens (Corvus corax). Our results support the hypothesis that susceptibility to WNV may have negative population consequences to most corvids on
regional levels. They also provide confirmation that dead animal surveillance programs can provide important data indicating
populations most likely to suffer detrimental impacts due to WNV. |
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Keywords: | avian populations Breeding Bird Survey Corvidae vector-borne disease |
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