Prevalence of antibodies to influenza A virus in Arctic and temperate-breeding barnacle geese and their eggs

Description

The Arctic is considered a relatively pathogen-poor environment. Most arctic-breeding birds however occupy the Arctic only seasonally. On their travels to and from arctic breeding grounds they move through a variety of other environments for staging, and there they may come into contact with more and diverse pathogens. Thus, it is largely an open question if arctic-breeding populations do actually benefit from their (energetically costly) migrations by escaping pathogen rich environments or not. Such question is furthermore of interest with respect to the spread of zoonotic diseases like, for instance, avian influenza A viruses. I study this problem in the barnacle goose, a traditionally arctic-breeding species that recently has colonised new environments in the temperate zone along the flyway. Such a study system allows intraspecific comparisons of arctic long-distance migratory, temperate short-distance migratory and sedentary populations, all sharing common wintering grounds along the North Sea. In my presentation I will investigate prevalence of antibodies directed at AIV in eggs, growing young and moulting adult geese from colonies along the Barents Sea, the Baltic and the North Sea.

Period	28 Mar 2018
Degree of Recognition	International