The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management, has established the Avian Health and Disease Program to enhance our capabilities in monitoring and managing avian populations.
Increasing expansion of human populations has lead to habitat fragmentation, changes in land-use patterns, and increased pressure on wild bird populations. Globalization of marketing and distribution has increased zoonotic and emerging disease risks. Many of these emerging diseases involve avian reservoirs or susceptible hosts.
Increasing the complexity of this picture are changes in climate. Avian populations may need to alter site fidelity in response to weather patterns; this will introduce new opportunities for transmission of avian diseases and place pressure on populations already stressed by anthropogenic factors.
The new program will expand avian health and disease surveillance, response, and management activities to address the impacts of these environmental changes and to support the avian conservation, population monitoring, and management goals of the Service.
|
