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Animals
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Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations
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Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Birds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 15304

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jacek Józef Nowakowski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Ecology & Environmental Protection, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-727 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: ecology; ornithology; biostatistics; biometry; evolutionary ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The main factors influencing the decline in biodiversity—the transformation of environments caused by human pressure and the changing climate—lead to specific reactions of organisms to a changing environment and offer the possibility of testing “trade-offs” between the possibility of using the changing environment and maintaining the balance of physiological and immunological processes. Environmental stresses for birds, such as specific anthropogenic factors (e.g., environmental pollution, noise, light, unusual food), create a range of responses, one of which is the reduction of the physiological and immune condition of the body, leading to a reduction in the organism’s homeostasis and susceptibility to diseases, and subsequently to drops in their numbers.

Increasingly, scientists and ecologists have recognized the need to identify and monitor bird health and physiological condition in order to understand the mechanisms of decline of diversity and the processes of adaptation to a changing environment. Therefore, the latest research has focused on the assessment of infection of local populations (malaria, Campylobacter, Mycoplasma, West Nile virus, influenza virus), the study of oxidative stress, immune response, endocrine and blood system reactions, and the body condition of birds.

Bird health and condition monitoring are important challenges for future research into adaptation to a changing environment. Frequent use of antibiotics in livestock farming and contamination of the environment with antibiotics lead to the formation of specific strains of resistant bacteria. The aspect of birds recognized as vectors of drug-resistant strains, especially from an epidemiological point of view (Campylobacter, Salmonella, Mycoplasma), is poorly understood. The changing climate creates conditions for the spread of new vectors of pathogens and a new geography of the diseases and pathogen distribution.

This Special Edition of MDPI Animals: Birds entitled “Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations” invites the results of research focusing on the linking of changing environmental conditions to the condition of birds, as well as review articles summarizing knowledge in this area. A diverse approach to bird health assessment and individual condition assessment reflecting various processes (physiology, immunology, health, molecular markers) which may help to develop methods of monitoring the condition and health of the bird population is extremely important and of interest to this issue. We also invite you to submit papers on the monitoring of the bird population in connection with assessment of their condition.

Dr. Jacek Józef Nowakowski
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • bird health
  • diseases of wild birds
  • avian malaria
  • bird body condition
  • bird physiological condition
  • oxidative stress markers
  • avian heterophils in inflammation and disease resistance
  • leucocyte profiles
  • bird population monitoring
  • birds condition monitoring

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 1636 KiB  
Article
An Automatic Identification Method of Crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon) Habitat Based on Spatiotemporal Density Detection
by Xian Jiang, Tingdong Yang, Dongping Liu, Yili Zheng, Yan Chen and Fan Li
Animals 2022, 12(17), 2220; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12172220 - 29 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1550
Abstract
To address the current challenges of the heavy workload, time-consuming nature and labor-intensiveness involved in existing crested ibis’s (Nipponia nipponTemminck, 1835) habitat identification approaches, this paper proposes an automatic habitat identification method based on spatiotemporal density detection. With consideration of [...] Read more.
To address the current challenges of the heavy workload, time-consuming nature and labor-intensiveness involved in existing crested ibis’s (Nipponia nipponTemminck, 1835) habitat identification approaches, this paper proposes an automatic habitat identification method based on spatiotemporal density detection. With consideration of the characteristics of the crested ibis’s trajectory data, such as aggregation, repeatability, and uncertainty, this method achieves detecting the crested ibis’s stopping points by using the spatial characteristics of the trajectory data. On this basis, an improved spatiotemporal clustering-based DBSCAN method is proposed in this paper, incorporating temporal characteristics of the trajectory data. By combining the spatial and temporal features, the proposed method is able to accurately identify the roosting and foraging sites among the crested ibis’s stopping points. Supported by remote sensing images and field investigations, it was found that the method proposed in this paper has a good clustering effect and can effectively identify the crested ibis’s foraging sites and overnight roosting areas. Specifically, the woodland, farmland, and river areas are the common foraging sites for the crested ibis, while the woodland with large trees is their common overnight site. Therefore, the method proposed in this paper can provide technical support for identifying and protecting the crested ibis’s habitats. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations)
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22 pages, 3573 KiB  
Article
Health Status of Bycaught Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) from the Western Baltic Sea
by Luca A. Schick, Peter Wohlsein, Silke Rautenschlein, Arne Jung, Joy Ometere Boyi, Gildas Glemarec, Anne-Mette Kroner, Stefanie A. Barth and Ursula Siebert
Animals 2022, 12(15), 2002; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12152002 - 8 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2043
Abstract
The Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) inhabits the entire northern hemisphere. In northern Europe, the flyway population reaches from the southern Wadden Sea to the northern Baltic coast. The European population is classified as endangered due to declines in Common Eider numbers [...] Read more.
The Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) inhabits the entire northern hemisphere. In northern Europe, the flyway population reaches from the southern Wadden Sea to the northern Baltic coast. The European population is classified as endangered due to declines in Common Eider numbers across Europe since 1990. In this study, we assessed 121 carcasses of Common Eiders, captured incidentally in gillnets in the Western Baltic between 2017 and 2019. The most common findings were parasitic infections of the intestine by acanthocephalans in 95 animals, which correlated with enteritis in 50% of the cases. Parasites were identified as Profilicollis botulus in 25 selected animals. Additionally, oesophageal pustules, erosions, and ulcerations, presumably of traumatic origin, were frequently observed. Nephritis and hepatitis were frequent, but could not be attributed to specific causes. Lung oedema, fractures and subcutaneous haemorrhages likely resulted from entangling and drowning. Two Common Eiders had mycobacterial infections and in one of these, Mycobacterium avium subspecies (ssp.) avium was identified. This study gives an overview of morphological changes and infectious diseases from one location of the European flyway population. It contributes to future health studies on Common Eiders in the Baltic and Wadden Seas by providing baseline information to compare with other areas or circumstances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations)
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17 pages, 2998 KiB  
Article
Prey-Base Does Not Influence Breeding Success in Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) in Judea, Israel
by Ezra Hadad, Motti Charter, Jakub Z. Kosicki and Reuven Yosef
Animals 2022, 12(10), 1280; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12101280 - 17 May 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3127
Abstract
The diet and breeding success of Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) have been suggested to vary at different latitudes. However, it is still unclear whether and how these relationships exist at lower latitudes outside of Europe. We therefore studied the diet and [...] Read more.
The diet and breeding success of Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) have been suggested to vary at different latitudes. However, it is still unclear whether and how these relationships exist at lower latitudes outside of Europe. We therefore studied the diet and breeding success of Eagle Owls during four breeding seasons at 14 nests in the Judea region, Israel. Of a total of 9461 prey items were identified; mammals (N = 6896, 35 species; 72.89%, biomass 62.3%) and birds (N = 2255, 55 species, 23.83%; biomass 36.0%) predominated the prey-base. We found that the gradient of diversity of the mammalian prey decreased from west to east; and avian prey increased from east to west. The index of species diversity, H’ for all prey, had no relationship with breeding success. The prey-base of the Eagle Owls helped identify the changes in geographic distributions of several species. Marbled polecat (Vormela peregusna), especially threatened, appear to be relatively abundant, as are brown rats (Ratttus norvegicus) which were previously considered to be restricted to the coastal regions. In addition to Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), the Eagle Owls also preyed on nine different species of insectivorous bats, several of which appear to have enlarged their geographic distribution within Israel. The Eagle Owl’s diet emphasizes its generalist foraging habits, but pairs may be species-specific specialists. This adaptation is especially important in a fast-developing and congested country like Israel, because a generalist hunting strategy probably allows the species to subsist in the region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations)
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11 pages, 1590 KiB  
Article
Fatty Acids Composition of Stomach Oil of Scopoli’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) from Linosa’s Colony
by Francesco Giuseppe Galluzzo, Valentina Cumbo, Gaetano Cammilleri, Vittorio Calabrese, Andrea Pulvirenti, Nicola Cicero, Licia Pantano, Antonietta Mascetti, Giovanni Lo Cascio, Emanuela Bacchi, Andrea Macaluso, Antonio Vella, Salvatore Seminara and Vincenzo Ferrantelli
Animals 2022, 12(9), 1069; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12091069 - 20 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1859
Abstract
Calonectris diomedea is a Procellariforms seabird having a very representative colony in Linosa Island (Southern Italy). The adult forms of C. diomedea produce a pasty oil from their proventriculus to feed their chicks during the rearing period. In this work, we examined the [...] Read more.
Calonectris diomedea is a Procellariforms seabird having a very representative colony in Linosa Island (Southern Italy). The adult forms of C. diomedea produce a pasty oil from their proventriculus to feed their chicks during the rearing period. In this work, we examined the fatty acids composition of the stomach oil of C. diomedea from Linosa Island by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The samples were collected at 20 and 70 days after hatching. Twenty different fatty acids (FAs) were identified. Saturated fatty acids (SFA) were the most abundant in percentage (41.6%) at day 20 followed by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, 38.7%) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA, 19.7%). MUFAs were the most abundant in samples collected at day 70 (53.8%), followed by SFAs (36.6%) and PUFAs (9.8%). Oleic acid (C18:1ω9) in the samples on day 70 was 4 times higher than that in the samples on day 20. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) verified a clear separation of the stomach oil samples in two groups, according to the day of sampling. The results obtained confirm the role of FAs analysis of stomach oil to understand the ecology and breeding behaviour of C. diomedea, highlighting a resemblance with signatures recorded in marine organisms of Linosa Island. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations)
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16 pages, 2128 KiB  
Article
Unmanned Aircraft Systems as a Powerful Tool to Detect Fine-Scale Spatial Positioning and Interactions between Waterbirds at High-Tide Roosts
by Johan H. Funder Castenschiold, Thomas Bregnballe, Dan Bruhn and Cino Pertoldi
Animals 2022, 12(8), 947; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12080947 - 7 Apr 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2425
Abstract
The surveillance of behavioral interactions between individuals in bird populations is important to understand social dynamics and explain distribution patterns caused by competition for food and space. For waterbirds, little is known about interactions between individuals at high-tide roosts. In the present study, [...] Read more.
The surveillance of behavioral interactions between individuals in bird populations is important to understand social dynamics and explain distribution patterns caused by competition for food and space. For waterbirds, little is known about interactions between individuals at high-tide roosts. In the present study, we used surveying with unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) to provide enhanced information on previously hidden aspects of the highly dynamic communities of roosting waterbirds in the non-breeding season. Fine-scale density estimations, derived from aerial photos obtained with UASs, were used as a measure to explain intra- and inter-species interactions for 10 selected waterbird species on a major roost site in the Danish Wadden Sea. Uniquely defined density distributions were detected, which, to some degree, were dependent on species and species size, with smaller waders exhibiting densely packed flocks (e.g., dunlin Calidris alpina and golden plover Pluvialis apricaria), whereas larger species, such as ducks and geese (Anatidae) exhibited lower densities. Multi-species flocks were observed to occur frequently (31.9%) and generally resulted in lower densities than single-species flocks for each of the species involved. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that UAS aerial photos can be used both to assess positions for roosting waterbirds and to classify habitats (i.e., mudflats, vegetated areas, waterline, and flooded areas) during high-tide. This facilitated the collection of precise data for temporal habitat choices for individual species when using the studied roost site. Our study highlights UAS surveys as an effective tool to gather hitherto unobtainable data for individual occurrences of roosting waterbirds on a spatiotemporal scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations)
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12 pages, 1778 KiB  
Article
A Culture-Based Study of Micromycetes Isolated from the Urban Nests of Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) in SW Poland
by Rafał Ogórek, Justyna Borzęcka, Katarzyna Kłosińska, Agata Piecuch, Marcin Przymencki, Klaudia Litwiniak and Jakub Suchodolski
Animals 2022, 12(6), 676; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12060676 - 8 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2646
Abstract
There are many positive relationships between micromycetes and birds: They can spread fungal spores, and fungi facilitate cavity woodpecker excavation by preparing and modifying excavation sites. In turn, bird nests are mainly a source of potentially zoopathogenic fungi. The Wrocław city centre hosts [...] Read more.
There are many positive relationships between micromycetes and birds: They can spread fungal spores, and fungi facilitate cavity woodpecker excavation by preparing and modifying excavation sites. In turn, bird nests are mainly a source of potentially zoopathogenic fungi. The Wrocław city centre hosts the biggest grey heron breeding colony in Poland with at least 240 breeding birds pairs. To assess the possible public health risks associated with bird nests, the goal of the present study was to identify cultivable fungi present in the nests of grey herons (Ardea cinerea) in Wrocław. Additionally, attempts were made to determine whether the obtained species of fungi may pose a potential threat to animal health. Fungi were cultured at 23 and 37 ± 0.5 °C, and identified based on phenotypic and genotypic traits. Moreover, during routine inspection, visible fungal growth in some of the nests was found. Overall, 10 different fungal species were obtained in the study (Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus fumigatus, Botryotrichum piluliferum, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Epicoccum layuense, Mucor circinelloides, M.hiemalis, Penicillium atramentosum, P.coprophilum, and P.griseofulvum). They are both cosmopolitan species and a source of potential threat to humans, homoiothermous animals and plants. The greatest number of fungal species was obtained from the nest fragments with visible fungal growth incubated at 23 °C, and the least from western conifer seed bugs (Leptoglossus occidentalis) inhabiting the nests. The species such as A. fumigatus, P. coprophilum, and P.griseofulvum can be directly related to the occurrence of visible fungal growth on plant fragments of grey heron’s nests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds Ecology: Monitoring of Bird Health and Populations)
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