Feeder density enhances house finch disease transmission in experimental epidemics.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic food provisioning of wildlife can alter the frequency of contacts among hosts and between hosts and environmental sources of pathogens. Despite the popularity of garden bird feeding, few studies have addressed how feeders influence host contact rates and disease dynamics. We experimentally manipulated feeder density in replicate aviaries containing captive, pathogen-naive, groups of house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) and continuously tracked behaviours at feeders using radio-frequency identification devices. We then inoculated one bird per group with Mycoplasma gallisepticum (Mg), a common bacterial pathogen for which feeders are fomites of transmission, and assessed effects of feeder density on house finch behaviour and pathogen transmission. We found that pa

SUBMITTER: Moyers SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5882996 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature