Galápagos Birds and Diseases: Invasive Pathogens as Threats for Island Species
By Martin Wikelski, J. Foufopoulos, Hernán Vargas, H. Snell. 2004
277 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Exotic diseases and parasites have caused extinctions on islands and continents, particularly when they spread through assemblages of immunologically naive species. Hawaii has lost a substantial part of its endemic bird fauna since the introduction of avian malaria at the beginning of the 20th century. In contrast, the Galapagos archipelago still possesses its entire endemic avifauna. Several of these Galapagos bird populations are in decline, however, and wildlife managers seek guidance to counteract a potential man-made ecological disaster. We recommend that endemic birds be tested for susceptibility to disease outside the Galapagos so that protection efforts can be better designed to deal with actual threats. At present, the best and perhaps only management option is to protect the isolation of these island communities because treating or vaccinating wild bird populations against diseases is almost impossible. If the isolation of the Galapagos Islands is successful, we will preserve the complete avifauna of an archipelago for the first time in the history of human colonization in the Pacific eco- region.
Subfields: Parasitology, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/15171b462594a30cca0746c1810deb4c1c20762a
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Citations in the corpus
- Relationship between avian malaria distribution and an exotic invasive mosquito in New Zealand (2006, background): “Such pre-emptive management, rather than constantly operating in "fire-fighting" mode, will not only minimise the impact on native biodiversity, including rare and endangered species, but also reduce the long-term cost of management (Wikelski et al. 2004).”
- Island extinctions: processes, patterns, and potential for ecosystem restoration (2017, unknown): “Novel pathogens and diseases have caused the decline of many island species (Wikelski et al. 2004), a recent example being Hawaiian bird species declines due to mosquito-borne avian malaria (Warner 1968).”
- Philornis downsi parasitism is the primary cause of nestling mortality in the critically endangered Darwin’s medium tree finch (Camarhynchus pauper) (2010, background): “The strength and type of natural selection affecting endemic Galápagos organisms has changed remarkably over the past century because of the sharp rise in the number of introduced species to the archipelago and increased human impacts (see Wikelski et al. 2004; Causton et al. 2006).”
- Decreased immunocompetence in a severely bottlenecked population of an endemic New Zealand bird (2007, background): “…is known to have been the main contributing factor of population decline and/or extinctions for several endangered species (van Riper et al., 1986; Wikelski et al., 2004), the loss of MHC diversity may be the genetic mechanism by which bottlenecked populations become more susceptible to pathogens.”
- Penguins : natural history and conservation (2013, background): “In response to the growing risk of invasive disease transmission via airplanes and vessels (Wikelski et al. 2004; Travis et al. 2006), the Saint Louis Zoo and the University of Missouri–St. Louis, in cooperation with the Charles Darwin Foundation and Galápagos National Park, initiated an…”