Abstract
Food provisioning can change wildlife pathogen dynamics by altering host susceptibility via nutrition and/or through shifts in foraging behavior and space use. We used the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus), a wading bird increasingly observed in urban parks, as a model to study synergistic relationships between food provisioning and infection risk across an urban gradient in South Florida. We tested whether Salmonella prevalence was associated with changes in ibis diet (stable isotope analysis), space use (site fidelity via GPS tracking), and local density (flock size). We compared the relative importance of these mechanisms by ranking candidate models using logistic regression. We detected Salmonella in 27% of white ibises (n = 233) sampled at 15 sites. Ibises with diets higher in anthropogenic food exhibited higher site fidelity. Salmonella prevalence was higher at sites where ibises exhibited greater site fidelity and Salmonella was more prevalent in soil and water. Overlap in Salmonella serotypes between ibises and soil or water also was more likely at sites where ibises exhibited higher site fidelity. Our results suggest that repeated use of foraging areas may increase Salmonella exposure for birds if foraging areas are contaminated from animal feces, human waste, or other bacterial sources. Limiting wildlife feeding in parks—perhaps best achieved through understanding the motivations for feeding, education, and enforcement—may reduce health risks for wildlife and the public.
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Data Accessibility
All associated data on ibis Salmonella status, site fidelity, diet, and capture sites are available as supplementary material. The transmitter data are part of a larger study but are available upon request from the author.
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Acknowledgements
We thank our collaborators Sonia Altizer, Richard Hall, and Kristen Navara as well as volunteers and undergraduate researchers for their help with study design and data collection. We also thank the government biologists and managers who provided access to capture sites. All capture and handling procedures were reviewed and approved by the University of Georgia’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (A2016 11-019-Y1-A0), a Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission permit (LSSC-11-00119F), and a USFWS permit (MB779238-0).
Funding
All work was supported by an NSF EEID Grant (DEB-1518611). Additional support was provided by the state and federal partners of the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. [NB other than your manuscript title, none of the other information on this titlepage, above, should be included in your submitted manuscript (body) to ensure that when sent-for-review your manuscript is blinded].
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MHM carried out the data analysis and statistical analysis, participated in data collection, participated in the design of the study, and drafted the manuscript; SMH conceived of the study, designed the study, coordinated the study, and helped draft the manuscript; RSR performed laboratory work; AK participated in data analysis and data collection; JWC participated in study design; MJY participated in study design and helped draft the manuscript; HA, TE, and CW collected field data; EKL participated in study conception and design. All authors gave final approval for publication.
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Murray, M.H., Hernandez, S.M., Rozier, R.S. et al. Site Fidelity is Associated with Food Provisioning and Salmonella in an Urban Wading Bird. EcoHealth 18, 345–358 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-021-01543-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-021-01543-x