A PCR-Based Retrospective Study for Beak and Feather Disease Virus (BFDV) in Five Wild Populations of Parrots from Australia, Argentina and New Zealand

Ortiz–Catedral, Luis; Wallace, Connor J.; Heinsohn, Robert; Krebs, Elizabeth; Langmore, Naomi E.; Vukelic, Dusan; Bucher, Enrique H.; Varsani, Arvind; Masello, Juan F.

doi:10.3390/d14020148

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Rainbow Lorikeets were another commonly admitted species with diagnoses ranging from trauma, injury (broken wings or legs) or suspected BFD which is related with chronic stress and usually results in high rates of mortality. BFD is a disease caused by the beak and feather disease virus (BFDV), a DNA virus that predominantly infects wild Psittaciformes population, resulting in immune-suppression, feather loss, weight loss, anaemia and other tissue damages (Ortiz-Catedral et al, 2022). Our results suggest that lorikeet species showed high rate of BFD (34.38% of Rainbow Lorikeets and 26.79% of Musk Lorikeets were diagnosed as BFD), making BFD is a non-negligible stressor and health risk for the wild bird populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining Physiological Stress Levels of Rescued Birds by Measuring Feather Corticosterone in a Retrospective Study

Dudley,

Zhang,

Pahuja

et al. 2024

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Australia’s avian species are unique and diverse. Due to the dramatic changed in distribution, physiology, and behaviour caused by both changing climatic conditions and human activities, Australian bird species becomes highly vulnerable to health-related factors such as impact injury and vehicle trauma, as well as environmental-related stressors such as animal attack and abnormal behaviours. This is reflected in increasing number of avian patients received by wildlife hospitals. The most common outcome of avian species in wildlife hospitals was euthanasia, only few of them were released back into their ecosystem. During the process of bird rescue and rehabilitation, stress can be caused by various stressors such as injury, infection, trauma, shock and stressful environment in wildlife hospitals and rehabilitation centres. Therefore, in order to better understand the causes of the high rates of mortality and improve the management and conservation strategies, it is important to study the species responses to environmental changes. Similar with other species, in birds, the HPA axis plays an essential role in maintaining homeostasis by producing glucocorticoids (corticosterone in birds). In this study, we sampled a total of 30 individuals humanely euthanised at the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Centre (AKWC), and noted their clinical information. Feather samples were collected from all 30 individuals, and then were processed and analysed for corticosterone levels using enzyme-immunoassay (EIA). The biological relevance of feather CORT assay was evaluated by comparing the absolute levels of CORT between birds. We also analysed the effects of different stressors by grouped the diagnosis into acute and chronic categories. Although results suggest that stress levels were variable between the diagnosis, no statistically significant difference was found between these two categories in this study due to the limited sample size. We also obtained patient records from the 2022-2023 period from AKWC for retrospective analysis. Records were categorized and analysed based on the diagnoses, species and admission dates. Retrospective analysis suggests that in 2022, the Rainbow Lorikeet had the highest admission rate (192/544, 35.29%), followed by Magpie (124/544, 22.79%). Most admissions occurred in Summer. Musculoskeletal injury was the most prevalent diagnosis across all species with Magpies having the highest rates (73.39%) across all diagnoses and Rainbow Lorikeets the second highest (36.46%). Beak and Feather disease (BFD) was another common diagnosis for lorikeets. Data collected at 2023 followed the similar trend. This is the first study that uses non-invasive method to determine stress levels of rescued Australian native avian species, aims at improving and implementing native avian species management and conservation initiatives. This research also provides a basis for future studies which allow for more detailed analyses of wild populations and a broader range of species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining Physiological Stress Levels of Rescued Birds by Measuring Feather Corticosterone in a Retrospective Study

Dudley,

Zhang,

Pahuja

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…For instance, damage in Barcelona ranges from 0.4% to 37% crop loss, depending on the particular crop (Senar et al, 2016). Lastly, recent research indicates that monk parakeets may serve as a reservoir for zoonotic diseases in some areas (Morinha et al, 2020), introducing a concern for human health; however, this is not widely observed (Ortiz-Catedral et al, 2022). As a result of these concerns and conflicts, monk parakeets have become a management priority in many areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporary behavioral responses to playbacks by a pest parrot and implications for management

Estien¹,

O’Connell²,

Francis³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Human-wildlife interactions continue to increase due to anthropogenic disturbances, with some interactions resulting in conflict. Leveraging a taxa’s bias for a particular sensory cue is a promising management avenue for reducing the potential and realized negative consequences of human-wildlife conflict. For instance, many avian species heavily depend on acoustic communication, and acoustic cues can provide opportunities to reduce conflict with a variety of avian species. The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is a gregarious parrot native to South America that has established populations worldwide and is considered an urban and agricultural pest in parts of its native and introduced ranges. We conducted playback experiments with a captive population of monk parakeets to evaluate auditory cues that may be useful for designing management protocols. Our experiment evaluated the efficacy of two stimuli that we expected to either repulse or attract parakeets: predator vocalizations and conspecific vocalizations, respectively. We measured two responses: (1) categorical group-level behavioral responses and (2) time to cease vigilance and return to baseline behavior. In the repulsion playbacks, monk parakeets were repelled by predator vocalizations in 80% of trials and took longer to cease vigilance and return to baseline behavior compared to attraction playbacks. In the attraction playbacks, monk parakeets exhibited vigilant behavior and weak or no attraction to the stimulus, with attraction only being observed in 10% of trials. Our results demonstrate that predator playbacks may be particularly useful for completing management objectives, such as temporary removal from a location.

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“…Chlamydia but not beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) in Brazil [14]. A retrospective study also failed to find BFDV in Australia, Argentina, and New Zealand [15], while a new BFDV genotype has recently been found in non-native Spanish parakeet populations [16], and a three-decade study investigated the diversification of this virus and the subsequent waves of infection in Mauritius [17]. Moreover, satellite telemetry of even a few individuals revealed information highly relevant to the conservation of a macaw species in Bolivia [18], and a study of the foraging ecology of another species in Argentina revealed once again the important seed dispersal role of parrots for key plants in the ecosystems where they live [19].…”

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confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Parrot Research and Conservation

2022

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A PCR-Based Retrospective Study for Beak and Feather Disease Virus (BFDV) in Five Wild Populations of Parrots from Australia, Argentina and New Zealand

Cited by 4 publications

References 61 publications

Determining Physiological Stress Levels of Rescued Birds by Measuring Feather Corticosterone in a Retrospective Study

Determining Physiological Stress Levels of Rescued Birds by Measuring Feather Corticosterone in a Retrospective Study

Temporary behavioral responses to playbacks by a pest parrot and implications for management

Recent Advances in Parrot Research and Conservation

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