Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses
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 r...
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:10670/1.wstsq6 2023-05-15T13:22:30+02:00 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.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00187123 en eng HAL CCSD Springer Verlag hal-00187123 10670/1.wstsq6 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00187123 undefined Hyper Article en Ligne - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société ISSN: 0722-4060 EISSN: 1432-2056 Polar Biology Polar Biology, Springer Verlag, 2004, 27, pp.374-379 envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2004 fttriple 2023-01-22T17:36:07Z 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. 6 pages Article in Journal/Newspaper Amsterdam Island Antarc* Antarctica Polar Biology Southern Ocean Unknown Southern Ocean |
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envir geo Weimerskirch, Henri Diseases threaten Southern Ocean albatrosses |
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envir geo |
description |
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. 6 pages |
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.archives-ouvertes.fr/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 |
Hyper Article en Ligne - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société ISSN: 0722-4060 EISSN: 1432-2056 Polar Biology Polar Biology, Springer Verlag, 2004, 27, pp.374-379 |
op_relation |
hal-00187123 10670/1.wstsq6 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00187123 |
op_rights |
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1766365229875200000 |