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Assessment of Virus Movement across Continents and among Populations: Using Dunlin as a Test Case
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There is concern that migratory waterbirds might spread highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 from Asia to North America. Identifying the origin and potential migration destination of infected populations is critical so appropriate health precautions can be taken. Dunlin are ideal for modeling the potential spread of avian influenza across continents because two subspecies that occur in Alaska intermix in post-breeding flocks each fall before migrating to separate nonbreeding sites. The USGS will use more than 15 years of tissue samples collected from breeding, migration, and wintering dnlin in Alaska, China, and along the Pacific coast of North America to develop population-specific molecular markers for linking breeding, migration, and wintering sites of this species.
Haig, Susan M. - Supervisory Research Wildlife Biologist
Phone: 541-750-7482
Email: susan_haig@usgs.gov
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