Unexpected Delayed Incursion of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 (Clade 2.3.4.4b) Into the Antarctic Region.

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 panzootic is having substantial impacts on wild birds and marine mammals. Following major and widespread outbreaks in South America, an incursion to Antarctica occurred late in the austral summer of 2023/2024 and was confined to the region of the Antarctic Peninsula. To infer potential underlying processes, we compiled H5N1 surveillance data from Antarctica and sub-Antarctic Islands prior to the first confirmed cases.

Sex-specific recruitment rates contribute to male-biased sex ratio in Adélie penguins.

Sex-related differences in vital rates that drive population change reflect the basic life history of a species. However, for visually monomorphic bird species, determining the effect of sex on demographics can be a challenge. In this study, we investigated the effect of sex on apparent survival, recruitment, and breeding propensity in the Adélie penguin (), a monochromatic, slightly size dimorphic species with known age, known sex, and known breeding history data collected during 1996-2019 ( = 2127 birds) from three breeding colonies on Ross Island, Antarctica.

High-resolution recording of foraging behaviour over multiple annual cycles shows decline in old Adélie penguins' performance.

Age-related variation in foraging performance can result from both within-individual change and selection processes. These mechanisms can only be disentangled by using logistically challenging long-term, longitudinal studies. Coupling a long-term demographic data set with high-temporal-resolution tracking of 18 Adélie penguins (, age 4-15 yrs old) over three consecutive annual cycles, we examined how foraging behaviour changed within individuals of different age classes.

Hacking techniques improve health and nutritional status of nestling White-tailed Eagles.

Birds of prey frequently feature in reintroductions and the hacking technique is typically used. Hacking involves removing large nestlings from donor populations, transferring them to captivity, feeding them ad libitum. Potentially, via the hacking method, the stress of captivity and disruption of parental feeding may be detrimental.

Risk assessment of SARS-CoV-2 in Antarctic wildlife.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This pathogen has spread rapidly across the world, causing high numbers of deaths and significant social and economic impacts. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus with a suggested zoonotic origin with the potential for cross-species transmission among animals.

The role of age of first breeding in modeling raptor reintroductions.

The present biodiversity crisis has led to an increasing number of reintroduction programs, and this conservation method is likely to be increasingly used in the future, especially in the face of climate change. Many fundamental questions in population ecology are focused on the mechanisms through which populations escape extinction.Population viability analysis (PVA) is the most common procedure for analyzing extinction risk.

Natural expansion versus translocation in a previously human-persecuted bird of prey.

Many threatened species in Europe have been expanding their distributions during recent decades owing to protection measures that overcome historical human activity that has limited their distributions. Range expansion has come about via two processes, natural expansion from existing range and reintroductions to new ranges. Reintroductions may prove to be a better way to establish populations because individuals are less subject to competitive relationships lowering breeding success than individuals expanding from existing populations.

How to plan reintroductions of long-lived birds.

Reintroductions have been increasingly used for species restoration and it seems that this conservation tool is going to be more used in the future. Nevertheless, there is not a clear consensus about the better procedure for that, consequently a better knowledge of how to optimize this kind of management is needed. Here we examined the dynamics of released long-lived bird populations (lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni, Bonelli's eagle Aquila fasciata, and bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus) in object-oriented simulated reintroduction programs.