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About the Authors:
Craig R. Ely
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska, United States of America
Jeffrey S. Hall
Affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
Joel A. Schmutz
Affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska, United States of America
John M. Pearce
Affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska, United States of America
John Terenzi
Affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska, United States of America
James S. Sedinger
Affiliation: J. S. Sedinger, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, United States of America
Hon S. Ip
Affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
Introduction
Avian influenza (AI) viruses (Orthomyxoviridae), are found in many species of birds throughout the world, especially waterfowl (Family Anatidae). Continued outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses, and the associated threat of a pandemic, have sustained worldwide interest in AI viruses [1], [2]. Although HPAI H5N1 has not yet been detected in North America, pathogenic strains of AI viruses virulent to poultry are not uncommon, and in the Pacific Flyway exemplified by an outbreak in the spring of 2004 when more than 17 million domestic birds were culled in British Columbia [3]. As pathogenic strains of AI viruses are known to generate from avirulent forms found in wild birds [4], it is imperative to better understand the natural history of low pathogenic (LP) AI viruses to help avert future impacts of AI viruses on local economies and human health [5], [6].
Species-specific characteristics of host organisms have been implicated as likely predictors of transmission rates of AI viruses, although few such studies have been conducted [5], [7], [8]. Social factors such as gregariousness, vagility, site fidelity, dispersal characteristics, and habitat preferences, may all influence viral exposure. Such behavioral characteristics constitute a key subset of life history attributes, under the common definition of life history as “a set of evolved strategies, including behavioral, physiological and anatomical adaptations, that more or less influence survival and reproductive success directly” [9]. Indeed, social indices such as degree of aggregation have been used for predicting viral movement among waterfowl...