Facilitating the evolution resistance to avian malaria in Hawaiian birds

Author:

Kilpatrick, A. Marm

Title:

Facilitating the evolution resistance to avian malaria in Hawaiian birds

Periodical:

Biological Conservation

Year:

2006

Volume:

128

Pages:

475-485

Subject:

Endangered species birds Drepanidinae Rodents control Avian malaria

Summary:

Native Hawaiian birds are one of the most threatened groups of animals in the United States with 53 of Hawaii's 71 endemic avian taxa either extinct or endangered. Three major causes of the decline of the Hawaiian birds are stressors such as habitat loss, predation by introduced mammals, and disease. Research has shown that avian malaria plays an important role in limiting the distribution and population sizes of many Hawaiian birds, and that projected climate change is likely to eliminate most disease-free habitat in Hawaii in the next century. As a result, the purpose of this study was to examine alternate management scenarios for the conservation of native Hawaiian birds. Here, the feasibility of using management in the form of rodent control to facilitate the evolution of resistance to malaria by increasing the survival and reproduction of native birds was examined as an analysis of demographic data from seven native species of birds suggesting that differences in life history cause some species to be more susceptible to local extinctions from the transmission of malaria. The seven species that were analyzed were the: Akepa (Loxops coccineus), Akohekohe (Palmeria dolei), Elepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis), Hawaii amakihi (Hemignathus virens), Hawaii creeper (Oreomystis mana), Omao (Myadestes obscurus), and the Palila (Loxioides bailleui).

Label:

Birds - General

URL:

http://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:2074/10.1016/j.biocon.2005.10.014

Date:

April 2006

Collection:

Periodicals