{"id":3644,"date":"2019-04-03T16:28:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T16:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/?p=3644"},"modified":"2019-04-03T16:28:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T16:28:25","slug":"dice-phd-student-leads-breakthrough-study-for-conservationists-battling-infectious-parrot-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/2019\/04\/03\/dice-phd-student-leads-breakthrough-study-for-conservationists-battling-infectious-parrot-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"DICE PhD student leads breakthrough study for conservationists battling infectious parrot disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

A study into the effectiveness of disinfecting birds’ nests, carried out by the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE)<\/a>, has led to a breakthrough in the understanding of biosecurity measures for the endangered echo parakeet in Mauritius.<\/p>\n

The research team found that\u00a0annual disinfection of parakeet nest sites\u00a0prior to the breeding season, intended to reduce the spread of infectious disease in endangered parrot species,\u00a0didn\u2019t have the impact conservationists expected\u00a0or, indeed, had hoped for, leading to recommendation for a different approach.<\/p>\n

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) is a\u00a0globally emerging infectious disease\u00a0affecting parrot species, and researchers were looking at\u00a0methods to reduce infection rates\u00a0in the endangered birds. The research team found 83% of the\u00a0fledglings in untreated nests survived compared to 79% in the treated nests. The long-term study of\u00a0echo parakeets in Mauritius\u00a0assessed how effective the disinfection measures were in reducing the probability of a nest becoming infected with PBFD.<\/p>\n

Project lead\u00a0Debbie Fogell<\/a>, a PhD student from DICE working in collaboration with\u00a0ZSL\u2019s (Zoological Society of London<\/a>) Institute of Zoology said, “The\u00a0desperate need of conservationists\u00a0to respond to\u00a0infectious disease outbreaks in wildlife populations, especially those that are small or recovering, often means field protocols need to be implemented before critical evaluation. Our research findings will\u00a0help us improve biosecurity measures implemented in Mauritius\u00a0in order to better support fledging success.”<\/p>\n

Conservationists have battled against Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs), which are\u00a0drivers of global extinction of threatened species.\u00a0The research team at DICE\u00a0assessed the efficiency of biosecurity protocols in managing PBFD. Psittaciformes (parrots) are one of the\u00a0most vulnerable avian orders, with over a\u00a0quarter of all extant species recognised as in need of conservation action\u00a0and 75% of species in population decline.<\/p>\n

Debbie Fogell and her colleagues recommend that\u00a0it is essential to continue to evaluate population management techniques\u00a0to ensure they are achieving the desired outcomes. The research illustrates that conservation activities should be\u00a0carefully considered through targeted monitoring\u00a0via further research and development, with conclusions\u00a0prioritising conservation objectives.<\/p>\n

‘<\/em>Hygiene and biosecurity protocols reduce infection prevalence but do not improve \u00a0fledging success in an endangered parrot‘\u00a0<\/em>by Deborah Fogell, Jim Groombridge<\/a>\u00a0and Simon Tollington<\/a>, DICE, University of Kent, Stefano Canessa, Ghent University, Sion Henshaw, Nicolas Zuel and Carl G Jones, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, Andrew Greenwood, International Zoo Veterinary Group and John G Ewen, Institute of Zoology, is published in Scientific Reports<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A study into the effectiveness of disinfecting birds’ nests, carried out by the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), has led to a breakthrough … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40284,"featured_media":3645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[159353,6599,124,70,6600],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3646,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644\/revisions\/3646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}