Monitoring contaminants, emerging infectious diseases and environmental change with raptors, and links to human health

Abstract

Capsule: Raptor research and monitoring informs issues of relevance to human health, including environmental contamination, emerging infectious diseases and environmental change. Aims: The paper examines the relevance of raptor research and monitoring to inform issues of relevance to human health, including environmental contamination, emerging vector-borne diseases and environmental change. Methods: Reviews of European Union policy context and role of raptor research and monitoring in detection of and response to contaminants. Examples include lead ammunition in White-tailed Sea Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla in Europe, and impacts of diclofenac on Gyps vultures in the Indian subcontinent. Comments on the relevance of raptor research and monitoring to emerging infectious diseases and environmental change, and considers the links between raptors and humans. Results: Biomonitoring of contaminants in raptors can perform useful purposes in relation to chemicals legislation. Raptors are useful sentinels of exposure to and effects of chemicals in the environment. Raptor research and monitoring can also elucidate environmental change and spread of emerging infectious diseases. Raptors are linked to humans through social, cultural and economic values. Conclusion: Raptors can be used to provide information relevant to human health and well-being. There are a number of challenges and opportunities in relating raptor research and monitoring to human health. Several areas with potential for development are outlined. The COST Action 'European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility' and the forthcoming LIFE APEX project will take forward relevant work.

Herpesvirus Infection in a Breeding Population of Two Coexisting Strix Owls

“…Some pathogens pose significant natural hazards for wild bird populations [ 1 ], and they even have potentials for outbreaks in humans, especially when ecosystems and thus regulatory ecosystem services are depleted [ 2 ]. Raptors, as predators at the top of the food chain, are particularly good environmental sentinels for detection of wildlife zoonosis [ 3 ]. However, the prevalence, transmission, and impacts of viruses in free-ranging raptors are still a poorly understood phenomenon, and this is probably reflected in cumulative effects in raptor mortality and fecundity combined with other environmental impacts [ 4 , 5 ], as well as individual variation [ 6 ].…”

Progress on bringing together raptor collections in Europe for contaminant research and monitoring in relation to chemicals regulation

“…Using raptors as particularly appropriate sentinels for PBT compounds (Movalli et al 2018), ERBFacility will help answer what the environmental risks are for specific chemicals, whether there are emerging contaminant problems needing remedial action and whether legislation is at all effective in reducing environmental exposure to contaminants in Europe. ERBFacility builds on 10 years of work involving ecotoxicologists and ornithologists leading up to and under the European Science Foundation's research networking programme EURAPMON (Research and Monitoring for and with Raptors in Europe) (see, for example, Movalli et al 2008, Gómez-Ramírez et al 2014, Espín et al 2016, Derlink et al 2018, Duke et al 2018.…”

Identifying the Potential Causes, Consequences, and Prevention of Communicable Diseases (Including COVID-19)

“…The investment in renewable fuel projects and the increase in healthcare expenditures would reduce the burden of communicable diseases on a global scale. The earlier literature largely confirmed these factors as jeopardy of an increase in infectious diseases across countries; for instance, Movalli et al [ 32 ] emphasized the need to perform chemical legislation as it is widely documented that human health and the natural environment both are primarily exposed with various chemicals used in production. Thus, the lack of different chemical regulations is favorable to the environment and human health.…”