Work on disease

BTO Garden BirdWatch partipants and the data they have collected through the Garden Bird Health initiative, Garden Wildlife Health and Garden BirdWatch itself, have been used to support work into disease and its impact on wildlife populations. A key focus of this work has been on the emergence and spread of trichomonosis. Samples collected through the disease work may be stored and become available for other pieces of work, for example: Tim Blackburn's exploration of body size differences between island populations.

Blackburn, T.M., Monroe, M.J., Lawson, B.L., Cassey, P. & Ewen, J.G. (2013) Body size changes in passerine birds introduced to New Zealand from the UK. NeoBiota 17: 1-18. abstract

Lawson, B., Lachish, S., Colvile, K.M., Durrant, C., Peck, K.M., Toms, M.P., Sheldon, B.C. and Cunningham, A.A. (2012) Emergence of a novel avian pox disease in British tit species. PLOS ONE 7(11): e40176. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040176. abstract
Lawson, B., Robinson R.A., Colvile K.M., Peck K.M., Chantrey J., Pennycott T.W., Simpson, V.R., Toms, M.P., Cunningham, A.A. (2012) The emergence and spread of finch trichomonosis in the British Isles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367: 2852-2863 doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0130. abstract
Lawson, B., Robinson, R.A., Neimanis, A., Handeland, K., Isomursu, M., Agren, E.O., Hamnes, I.S., Tyler, K.M., Chantrey, J., Hughes, L.A., Pennycott, T.W., Simpson, V.R., John, S.K., Peck, K.M., Toms, M.P., Bennett, M., Kirkwood, J.K., Cunningham, A.A. (2011) Evidence of spread of the emerging infectious disease finch trichomonosis, by migrating birds. Ecohealth 8(2): 143-153. doi:10.1007/s10393-011-0696-8. abstract
Lawson, B., Cunningham, A., Chantrey, J., Hughes, L.A., John, S.K., Bunbury, N., Bell, D.J., Tyler, K.M. (2011) A clonal strain of Trichomonas gallinae is the aetiologic agent of an emerging avian epidemic disease. Infection Genetics and Evolution 11: 1638-1645. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2011.06.007.
Robinson, R.A., Lawson, B., Toms, M.P., Peck, K.M., Kirkwood, J.K., et al. (2010) Emerging Infectious Disease Leads to Rapid Population Declines of Common British Birds. PLOS ONE 5(8): e12215. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012215. abstract

Related content