Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Using the recent emergence of avian cholera in the Arctic as a model opportunity, we plan to understand the environmental epidemiology of this disease threat within bird populations and communities, using a much needed integrative approach. We are interested in how environmental variability might influence variation in which individuals and species acquire or succumb to the disease, since environmental attributes will differ depending on migration routes and timing, as well as variation in exposure to extreme weather events as indexed by phenomena such as the North Atlantic Oscillation. We are particularly interested in the effects of this disease on an exploited waterfowl species, the northern common eider. Building on the information obtained on individuals of this model species, and the populations they make up, will then allow our group to examine the geographical spread of the disease in the Arctic, and its potential to cross international boundaries. Finally, using state-of-the-art genotyping procedures, we intend to determine whether the disease transmission pathways originate from between-species interactions on wintering grounds, or are principally driven by breeding ground transmission either within- or between-species. Bringing all of this information together is fundamental to formulating an effective plan for predicting and mitigating the influence of avian cholera on economically-important wildlife species, and the Inuit and other northern communities that rely on them for their livelihood. For these reasons, we also include a traditional and local ecological knowledge dimension to our research. This information is also crucial for all of our government (national and international) partners. This grant will also be used in succession planning in terms of training the next generation of integrative biologists interested in disease ecology, which is garnering considerable interest these days with the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases of humans and wildlife.