A devastating wave of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI / bird flu) has triggered an unprecedented global wildlife emergency, decimating seabird and waterbird colonies across the UK and beyond. A major new collection of studies, published by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in its journal Bird Study, paints a stark picture of the virus’s global rampage and calls for immediate action to prevent further ecological disaster.
Over the past three years, avian influenza has emerged as a rapidly escalating threat to wild bird populations around the world. Here in the UK, we have witnessed significant levels of mortality in our internationally important breeding seabirds and wintering waterfowl, as well as impacts on vulnerable bird of prey populations.
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), working with its publishing partner Taylor & Francis, has brought together a suite of scientific studies across two issues of its scientific journal Bird Study – that both document the spread and impact of the disease on wild birds and assess the effectiveness of management responses. By doing this, BTO hopes that lessons learned from the recent outbreak will ensure that we are better prepared for future outbreaks of this, and other, diseases.
Collectively, the studies reveal the unprecedented scale and spread of avian influenza, as it decimated seabird colonies in the UK and Europe, before travelling across multiple pathways through Africa, North and South America, to eventually reach South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic in September 2023.
Originating on a goose farm in China in 1996, the HPAI virus has caused global economic damage to poultry flocks, and high levels of mortality in wild birds, especially migratory wildfowl. It is now endemic in wild birds, making them both the unwitting victims of a disease that evolved from the farming industry as well as global virus vectors.
Among the hardest hit species:
Great Skuas saw an estimated 73% collapse in their UK breeding population, representing a loss of c.45% of its global population.
A third of Svalbard’s Barnacle Goose population, which winters on the UK’s Solway Estuary, was lost to the disease.
Approximately a fifth of Northern Gannets were estimated to have died at some breeding colonies
Breeding terns and gulls were severely affected across Europe, including at important breeding colonies here in the UK.
Notable declines in the breeding success of Scotland’s White-tailed Eagles and Golden Eagles were likely linked to contact with infected prey or carrion in coastal areas.
Importantly, the editors overseeing these scientific papers have been able to identify a number of recommendations, which will help conservation bodies, land managers and others to better monitor future mortality, respond to major outbreaks, and understand the scope, scale and implications of this disease for wild bird populations.
“This was a conservation crisis unfolding in real time.” says Lead Editor Professor Phil Atkinson. “Being able to quickly bring together data and expertise from across BTO and its partner organisations has enabled us to respond to a rapidly evolving situation, and to then reflect on the lessons learned. Our collective findings call for urgent investment in long-term monitoring, improved approaches to disease response, and greater integration of wildlife disease surveillance into public health and environmental policy under a ‘One Health’ framework, which considers human, livestock, and wildlife health together.”
Professor James Pearce-Higgins, BTO Director of Science and contributor to the issue, added “The last three years have shown the power of citizen science birdwatchers, surveyors and bird ringers, combined with BTO analysis, to track the spread of the disease and its impact on bird populations. It is essential that these long-term surveillance schemes are maintained and enhanced to track ongoing disease impacts and to inform the recovery of vulnerable populations. We encourage birdwatchers to get involved in our long-term monitoring schemes, and to report any sick and dead birds they find through our BirdTrack app.”
BTO warns that future bird flu outbreaks, together with other pressures on the environment, could push vulnerable species beyond recovery – and, without action, the disease also continues to pose a great risk to poultry and a growing risk to humans and livestock.
The 20 studies, together with two editorial overviews, form a virtual collection online, where they can be accessed by researchers and practitioners. All of the papers in the collection are free to view for at least the next three months.
