Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds

Abstract Animals inhabiting urban areas often experience elevated disease threats, putatively due to factors such as increased population density and horizontal transmission or decreased immunity (e.g. due to nutrition, pollution, stress). However, for animals that take advantage of human food subsi...

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Autores principales:	Laren Schaper, Pierce Hutton, Kevin J. McGraw
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7b563d14ad174d9dbc673af8ca115719
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7b563d14ad174d9dbc673af8ca1157192021-12-02T17:13:27ZBird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds10.1038/s41598-021-92117-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/7b563d14ad174d9dbc673af8ca1157192021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92117-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Animals inhabiting urban areas often experience elevated disease threats, putatively due to factors such as increased population density and horizontal transmission or decreased immunity (e.g. due to nutrition, pollution, stress). However, for animals that take advantage of human food subsidies, like feeder-visiting birds, an additional mechanism may include exposure to contaminated feeders as fomites. There are some published associations between bird feeder presence/density and avian disease, but to date no experimental study has tested the hypothesis that feeder contamination can directly impact disease status of visiting birds, especially in relation to the population of origin (i.e. urban v. rural, where feeder use/densities naturally vary dramatically). Here we used a field, feeder-cleaning experimental design to show that rural, but not urban, house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) showed increased infection from a common coccidian endoparasite (Isospora spp.) when feeders were left uncleaned and that daily cleaning (with diluted bleach solution) over a 5-week period successfully decreased parasite burden. Moreover, this pattern in rural finches was true for males but not females. These experimental results reveal habitat- and sex-specific harmful effects of bird feeder use (i.e. when uncleaned in rural areas). Our study is the first to directly indicate to humans who maintain feeders for granivorous birds that routine cleaning can be critical for ensuring the health and viability of visiting avian species.Laren SchaperPierce HuttonKevin J. McGrawNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Laren Schaper Pierce Hutton Kevin J. McGraw Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
description	Abstract Animals inhabiting urban areas often experience elevated disease threats, putatively due to factors such as increased population density and horizontal transmission or decreased immunity (e.g. due to nutrition, pollution, stress). However, for animals that take advantage of human food subsidies, like feeder-visiting birds, an additional mechanism may include exposure to contaminated feeders as fomites. There are some published associations between bird feeder presence/density and avian disease, but to date no experimental study has tested the hypothesis that feeder contamination can directly impact disease status of visiting birds, especially in relation to the population of origin (i.e. urban v. rural, where feeder use/densities naturally vary dramatically). Here we used a field, feeder-cleaning experimental design to show that rural, but not urban, house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) showed increased infection from a common coccidian endoparasite (Isospora spp.) when feeders were left uncleaned and that daily cleaning (with diluted bleach solution) over a 5-week period successfully decreased parasite burden. Moreover, this pattern in rural finches was true for males but not females. These experimental results reveal habitat- and sex-specific harmful effects of bird feeder use (i.e. when uncleaned in rural areas). Our study is the first to directly indicate to humans who maintain feeders for granivorous birds that routine cleaning can be critical for ensuring the health and viability of visiting avian species.
format	article
author	Laren Schaper Pierce Hutton Kevin J. McGraw
author_facet	Laren Schaper Pierce Hutton Kevin J. McGraw
author_sort	Laren Schaper
title	Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
title_short	Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
title_full	Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
title_fullStr	Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
title_full_unstemmed	Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
title_sort	bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7b563d14ad174d9dbc673af8ca115719
work_keys_str_mv	AT larenschaper birdfeedercleaninglowersdiseaseseverityinruralbutnoturbanbirds AT piercehutton birdfeedercleaninglowersdiseaseseverityinruralbutnoturbanbirds AT kevinjmcgraw birdfeedercleaninglowersdiseaseseverityinruralbutnoturbanbirds
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Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds

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