Movement analysis of free-grazing domestic ducks in Poyang Lake, China: a disease connection.
Previous work suggests domestic poultry are important contributors to the emergence and transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza throughout Asia. In Poyang Lake, China, domestic duck production cycles are synchronized with arrival and departure of thousands of migratory wild birds in the area. During these periods, high densities of juvenile domestic ducks are in close proximity to migratory wild ducks, increasing the potential for the virus to be transmitted and subsequently disseminated via migration. In this paper, we use GPS dataloggers and dynamic Brownian bridge models to describe movements and habitat use of free-grazing domestic ducks in the Poyang Lake basin and identify specific areas that may have the highest risk of H5N1 transmission between domestic and wild birds. Specifically, we determine relative use by free-grazing domestic ducks of natural wetlands, which are the most heavily used areas by migratory wild ducks, and of rice paddies, which provide habitat for resident wild ducks and lower densities of migratory wild ducks. To our knowledge, this is the first movement study on domestic ducks, and our data show potential for free-grazing domestic ducks from farms located near natural wetlands to come in contact with wild waterfowl, thereby increasing the risk for disease transmission. This study provides an example of the importance of movement ecology studies in understanding dynamics such as disease transmission on a complicated landscape.
U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, MD, USA.
Diann J
DJ
Prosser
U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, MD, USA.
Eric C
EC
Palm
U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, San Francisco Bay Estuary Field Station, Vallejo, CA, USA; Science Division, National Audubon Society, San Francisco, CA, USA.
John Y
JY
Takekawa
Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, Center for Spatial Analysis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA.
Delong
D
Zhao
Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, Center for Spatial Analysis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA; Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Xiangming
X
Xiao
School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China; Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Peng
P
Li
School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.
Ying
Y
Liu
Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Disease, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Scott H
SH
Newman
disease transmission; domestic poultry; dynamic Brownian bridge movement model
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