Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses

6 pages International audience Infectious diseases have the potential to cause rapid declines and extinction in vertebrate populations, and are likely to be spreading with increased globalisation and climate warming. In the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, no major outbreaks of infectious diseases hav...

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Main Author: Weimerskirch, Henri
Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-00187123
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spelling ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00187123v1 2024-02-27T08:32:51+00:00 Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses Weimerskirch, Henri Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2004-02-19 https://hal.science/hal-00187123 en eng HAL CCSD Springer Verlag hal-00187123 https://hal.science/hal-00187123 ISSN: 0722-4060 EISSN: 1432-2056 Polar Biology https://hal.science/hal-00187123 Polar Biology, 2004, 27, pp.374-379 [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2004 ftccsdartic 2024-01-28T03:19:09Z 6 pages International audience Infectious diseases have the potential to cause rapid declines and extinction in vertebrate populations, and are likely to be spreading with increased globalisation and climate warming. In the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, no major outbreaks of infectious diseases have been reported to date, perhaps because of isolation and cold climate, although recent evidence suggests their presence. The major threat for the Southern Ocean environment is today considered to be fishing activities, and especially controversial long-lining which is assumed to be the cause of the major decreases in albatross and large petrel populations observed recently. Here we show that the worldwide spread of avian cholera is probably the major cause of the decrease on Amsterdam Island of the large yellow-nosed albatross (Diomedea chlororhynchos) population, which was previously attributed to long-line fishing. Another pathogenic bacterium, Erysipelas, was also present. The diseases affect mainly young chicks, with a cyclic pattern between years, but also kill adult birds. The outbreak of the disease probably occurred in the mid-1980s when chick mortality increased, adult survival decreased and the population started to decrease. The diseases may be currently threatening the very rare Amsterdam albatross (D. amsterdamensis) with extinction, and are probably also affecting sooty albatrosses (Phoebetria fusca). The spread of diseases to the most remote areas of the world raises major concern for the conservation of the Southern Ocean environment. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amsterdam Island Antarc* Antarctica Polar Biology Southern Ocean Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Southern Ocean
institution Open Polar
collection Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)
op_collection_id ftccsdartic
language English
topic [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
[SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society
spellingShingle [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
[SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society
Weimerskirch, Henri
Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
topic_facet [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
[SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society
description 6 pages International audience Infectious diseases have the potential to cause rapid declines and extinction in vertebrate populations, and are likely to be spreading with increased globalisation and climate warming. In the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, no major outbreaks of infectious diseases have been reported to date, perhaps because of isolation and cold climate, although recent evidence suggests their presence. The major threat for the Southern Ocean environment is today considered to be fishing activities, and especially controversial long-lining which is assumed to be the cause of the major decreases in albatross and large petrel populations observed recently. Here we show that the worldwide spread of avian cholera is probably the major cause of the decrease on Amsterdam Island of the large yellow-nosed albatross (Diomedea chlororhynchos) population, which was previously attributed to long-line fishing. Another pathogenic bacterium, Erysipelas, was also present. The diseases affect mainly young chicks, with a cyclic pattern between years, but also kill adult birds. The outbreak of the disease probably occurred in the mid-1980s when chick mortality increased, adult survival decreased and the population started to decrease. The diseases may be currently threatening the very rare Amsterdam albatross (D. amsterdamensis) with extinction, and are probably also affecting sooty albatrosses (Phoebetria fusca). The spread of diseases to the most remote areas of the world raises major concern for the conservation of the Southern Ocean environment.
author2 Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Weimerskirch, Henri
author_facet Weimerskirch, Henri
author_sort Weimerskirch, Henri
title Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
title_short Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
title_full Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
title_fullStr Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
title_full_unstemmed Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
title_sort diseases threaten southern ocean albatrosses
publisher HAL CCSD
publishDate 2004
url https://hal.science/hal-00187123
geographic Southern Ocean
geographic_facet Southern Ocean
genre Amsterdam Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Biology
Southern Ocean
genre_facet Amsterdam Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Biology
Southern Ocean
op_source ISSN: 0722-4060
EISSN: 1432-2056
Polar Biology
https://hal.science/hal-00187123
Polar Biology, 2004, 27, pp.374-379
op_relation hal-00187123
https://hal.science/hal-00187123
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