Data from: Tracking domestic ducks: a novel approach for documenting poultry market chains in the context of avian influenza transmission

Agro-ecological conditions associated with the spread and persistence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are not well understood, but the trade of live poultry is suspected to be a major pathway. Although market chains of live bird trade have been studied through indirect means including interviews and questionnaires, direct methods have not been used to identify movements of individual poultry. To bridge the knowledge gap on quantitative movement and transportation of poultry, we introduced a novel approach for applying telemetry to document domestic duck movements from source farms at Poyang Lake, China. We deployed recently developed transmitters that record Global Positioning System (GPS) locations and send them through the Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) cellular telephone system. For the first time, we were able to track individually marked ducks from 3 to 396 km from their origin to other farms, distribution facilities, or live bird markets. Our proof of concept test showed that the use of GPS-GSM transmitters may provide direct, quantitative information to document the movement of poultry and reveal their market chains. Our findings provide an initial indication of the complexity of source-market network connectivity and highlight the great potential for future telemetry studies in poultry network analyses.

农业生态条件与高致病性禽流感（highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI）传播及持续存在的关联机制尚未得到充分理解，但活禽贸易被怀疑是主要传播途径。尽管活禽贸易的市场链已通过访谈和问卷等间接手段得到研究，但尚未采用直接方法识别单个家禽的移动轨迹。为填补家禽定量移动与运输领域的知识空白，我们提出了一种将遥测技术（telemetry）应用于记录中国鄱阳湖源头农场家鸭移动轨迹的新方法。我们部署了最新研发的发射器，该发射器可记录全球定位系统（Global Positioning System, GPS）位置，并通过全球移动通信系统（Groupe Spécial Mobile, GSM）蜂窝电话网络传输数据。我们首次实现了对带有个体标记的家鸭从原产地到其他农场、分销设施或活禽市场的追踪，移动距离范围为3至396公里。我们的概念验证测试（proof of concept test）表明，GPS-GSM发射器的使用可提供直接、定量的信息，用于记录家禽移动轨迹并揭示其市场链。我们的研究结果初步揭示了源头-市场网络连通性的复杂性，并凸显了遥测技术在未来家禽网络分析研究中的巨大潜力。