Avian disease surveillance on the island of San Cristóbal, Galápagos

Endemic island species face unprecedented threats, with many populations in decline or at risk of extinction. One important threat is the introduction of novel and potentially devastating diseases, made more pressing due to accelerating global connectivity, urban development, and climatic changes. In the Galápagos archipelago two important wildlife diseases: avian pox (Avipoxvirus spp.) and avian malaria (Plasmodium spp. and related Haemosporidia) challenge endemic species. San Cristóbal island has seen a paucity of disease surveillance in avian populations, despite the island's connectedness to the continent and the wider archipelago. To survey prevalence and better understand the dynamics of these two diseases on San Cristóbal, we captured 1205 birds of 11 species on the island between 2016 and 2020. Study sites included urban and rural lowland localities as well as rural highland sites in 2019. Of 995 blood samples screened for avian haemosporidia, none tested positive for infection....

海岛特有物种正面临前所未有的生存威胁，诸多种群正处于衰退或濒临灭绝的境地。其中一项核心威胁为新型、具有潜在毁灭性的疾病传入，而全球连通性不断提升、城市扩张与气候变化进一步加剧了这一威胁的紧迫性。在加拉帕戈斯群岛（Galápagos Archipelago），两种重要的野生动物疾病——禽痘（Avipoxvirus spp.）与禽疟疾（疟原虫属（Plasmodium spp.）及相关血孢子虫（Haemosporidia））正严重威胁着岛内特有物种。圣克里斯托瓦尔岛（San Cristóbal Island）虽与大陆及整个群岛其他区域连通性良好，但此前针对岛内鸟类种群的疾病监测工作极度匮乏。为明确这两种疾病的流行率并深入解析其在圣克里斯托瓦尔岛的传播动态，研究团队于2016年至2020年间在该岛捕获了11个物种共计1205只鸟类。2019年的研究样地涵盖城乡低海拔区域与农村高海拔区域。在针对995份血液样本开展的禽血孢子虫检测中，未发现任何阳性感染样本……