Insights into antimicrobial resistance among long distance migratory East Canadian High Arctic light-bellied Brent geese (Branta bernicla hrota).
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ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the most significant threat to global public health and ascertaining the role wild birds play in the epidemiology of resistance is critically important. This study investigated the prevalence of AMR Gram-negative bacteria among long-distance migratory East Canadian High Arctic (ECHA) light-bellied Brent geese found wintering on the east coast of Ireland.In this study a number of bacterial species were isolated from cloacal swabs taken from ECHA light-bellied Brent geese. Nucleotide sequence analysis identified five species of Gram-negative bacteria; the dominant isolated species were Pantoea spp. (n = 5) followed by Buttiauxella agrestis (n = 2). Antimicrobial susceptibility disk diffusion results identified four of the Pantoea spp. strains, and one of the Buttiauxella agrestis strains resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid.To our knowledge this is the first record of AMR bacteria isolated from long distance migratory ECHA light-bellied Brent geese. This indicates that this species may act as reservoirs and potential disseminators of resistance genes into remote natural ecosystems across their migratory range. This population of geese frequently forage (and defecate) on public amenity areas during the winter months presenting a potential human health risk.
Project description:Landbirds undertaking within-continent migrations have the possibility to stop en route, but most long-distance migrants must also undertake large non-stop sea crossings, the length of which can vary greatly. For shorebirds migrating from Iceland to West Africa, the shortest route would involve one of the longest continuous sea crossings while alternative, mostly overland, routes are available. Using geolocators to track the migration of Icelandic whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus), we show that they can complete a round-trip of 11,000?km making two non-stop sea crossings and flying at speeds of up to 24?m s-1; the fastest recorded for shorebirds flying over the ocean. Although wind support could reduce flight energetic costs, whimbrels faced headwinds up to twice their ground speed, indicating that unfavourable and potentially fatal weather conditions are not uncommon. Such apparently high risk migrations might be more common than previously thought, with potential fitness gains outweighing the costs.
Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding the evolution of migration requires knowledge of the patterns, sources, and consequences of variation in migratory behaviour, a need exacerbated by the fact that many migratory species show rapid population declines and require knowledge-based conservation measures. We therefore need detailed knowledge on the spatial and temporal distribution of individuals across their annual cycle, and quantify how the spatial and temporal components of migratory behaviour vary within and among individuals.MethodsWe tracked 138 migratory journeys undertaken by 64 adult common terns (Sterna hirundo) from a breeding colony in northwest Germany to identify the annual spatiotemporal distribution of these birds and to evaluate the individual repeatability of eleven traits describing their migratory behaviour.ResultsBirds left the breeding colony early September, then moved south along the East Atlantic Flyway. Wintering areas were reached mid-September and located at the west and south coasts of West Africa as well as the coasts of Namibia and South Africa. Birds left their wintering areas late March and reached the breeding colony mid-April. The timing, total duration and total distance of migration, as well as the location of individual wintering areas, were moderately to highly repeatable within individuals (repeatability indexes: 0.36-0.75, 0.65-0.66, 0.93-0.94, and 0.98-1.00, respectively), and repeatability estimates were not strongly affected by population-level inter-annual variation in migratory behaviour.ConclusionsWe found large between-individual variation in common tern annual spatiotemporal distribution and strong individual repeatability of several aspects of their migratory behaviour.
Project description:Two related salmonids, Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) sampled from the high Arctic region of Nunavut, Canada are anadromous fish, migrating annually from the same ice-covered freshwater waterbodies to spend summers in the marine waters of the Arctic Ocean. Microbiota associated with the skin-associated mucus undergo community change coincident with migration, and irrespective of this turnover, antibiotic resistance was detected in mixed bacterial cultures initiated with mucus samples. Although as expected most bacteria were unculturable, however, 5/7 isolates showed susceptibility to a panel of five common antibiotics. The fish were sampled under severe conditions and at remote locations far from human habitation. Regardless, two isolates, 'Carnobacterium maltaromaticum sm-2' and 'Arthrobacter citreus sm', showed multi-resistance to two or more antibiotics including ampicillin and streptomycin indicating multiple resistance genes. It is unknown if these fish bacteria have 'natural' resistance phenotypes or if resistance has been acquired. As result of these observations, we urge long-term monitoring of drug-resistant bacteria in the region and caution the assumption of a lack of drug-resistant organisms even in such extreme environments.
Project description:Body condition (i.e. relative mass after correcting for structural size) affects the behaviour of migrating birds, but how body condition affects migratory performance, timing and fitness is still largely unknown. Here, we studied the effects of relative body condition on individual departure decisions, wind selectivity, flight speed and timing of migration for a long-distance migratory shorebird, the red knot Calidris canutus rufa. By using automated VHF telemetry on a continental scale, we studied knots' migratory movements with unprecedented temporal resolution over a 3-year period. Knots with a higher relative body condition left the staging site later than birds in lower condition, yet still arrived earlier to their Arctic breeding grounds compared to knots in lower relative body condition. They accomplished this by selecting more favourable winds at departure, thereby flying faster and making shorter stops en route Individuals with a higher relative body condition in spring migrated south up to a month later than individuals in lower condition, suggesting that individuals in better condition were more likely to have bred successfully. Moreover, individuals with a lower relative body condition in spring had a lower probability of being detected in autumn, suggestive of increased mortality. The pressure to arrive early to the breeding grounds is considered to be an important constraint of migratory behaviour and this study highlights the important influence of body condition on migratory decisions, performance and potentially fitness of migrant birds.
Project description:Migratory birds usually respond to climate change by modifying breeding and/or wintering areas, as well as by reproducing earlier. In addition, changes in winter habitat use or breeding phenology could have important carry-over effects on subsequent breeding success. Here, we studied age- and sex-dependent carry-over effects from wintering to the breeding stage of a small aerial insectivorous long-distance migratory bird, the barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) breeding in Denmark during 1984-2013. First, we used stable isotope analyses combined with ringing recoveries to identify wintering areas. Second, we found that environmental conditions as inferred by Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) have deteriorated at the wintering grounds. Third, we used confirmatory path analysis to quantify the indirect effect of winter conditions on subsequent breeding success. Females advanced onset of breeding, laid more eggs and raised more fledglings in the first brood when ecological conditions during the previous winter improved. This response was age dependent, since yearlings did not respond to this environmental cue but the response was increasingly stronger as females aged. Males showed a similar response to winter conditions, although not statistically significant. These results highlight the importance of studying carry-over effects within the context of climate change, especially in relation to age of individuals.
Project description:The impact of climate change on spring phenology poses risks to migratory birds, as migration timing is controlled predominantly by endogenous mechanisms. Despite recent advances in our understanding of the underlying genetic basis of migration timing, the ways that migration timing phenotypes in wild individuals may map to specific genomic regions requires further investigation. We examined the genetic architecture of migration timing in a long-distance migratory songbird (purple martin, Progne subis subis) by integrating genomic data with an extensive dataset of direct migratory tracks. A moderate to large amount of variance in spring migration arrival timing was explained by genomics (proportion of phenotypic variation explained by genomics = 0.74; polygenic score R2 = 0.24). On chromosome 1, a region that was differentiated between migration timing phenotypes contained genes that could facilitate nocturnal flights and act as epigenetic modifiers. Overall, these results advance our understanding of the genomic underpinnings of migration timing.
Project description:Many species migrate long distances annually between their breeding and wintering areas1. While global change affects both ranges, impact assessments have generally focused on breeding ranges and ignore how environmental changes influence migrants across geographic regions and the annual cycle2,3. Using range maps and species distribution models, we quantified the risk of summer and winter range loss and migration distance increase from future climate and land cover changes on long-distance migratory birds of the Holarctic (n=715). Risk estimates are largely independent of each other and magnitudes vary geographically. If seasonal range losses and increased migration distances are not considered, we strongly underestimate the number of threatened species by 18-49% and the overall magnitude of risk for 17-50% species. Many of the analysed species facing multiple global change risks are not listed by IUCN as threatened or near threatened. Neglecting seasonal migration in impact assessments could thus seriously misguide species' conservation.
Project description:Life-history theory predicts that current behaviour affects future reproduction, implying that animals should optimise their escape strategies to reflect fitness costs and benefits of premature escape. Both costs and benefits of escape may change temporally with important consequences for the evolution of escape strategies. Moreover, escape strategies of species may differ according to their positions on slow-fast pace of life gradients. We studied risk-taking in long-distance migratory animals, waders (Charadriiformes), during the annual cycle, i.e., breeding in Europe, stopover in the Middle East and wintering in tropical Africa. Phylogenetically informed comparative analyses revealed that risk-taking (measured as flight initiation distance, FID) changed significantly over the year, being lowest during breeding and peaking at stopover sites. Similarly, relationships between risk-taking and life-history traits changed among stages of the annual cycle. While risk-taking significantly decreased with increasing body mass during breeding, risk-taking-body mass relationship became marginally significant in winter and disappeared during migration. The positive trend of risk-taking along slow-fast pace of life gradient measured as adult survival was only found during breeding. The season-dependent relationships between risk-taking and life history traits suggest that migrating animals respond to fluctuating environments by adopting behavioural plasticity.