Abstract: Global change is contributing to unprecedented expansions of infectious diseases in wildlife. Recurrent avian cholera outbreaks are causing dramatic chick mortality and population decline in endangered albatross colonies on Amsterdam Island, a critical seabird breeding ground in the Southern Indian Ocean. We manufactured a killed vaccine using a Pasteurella multocida strain isolated from a dead albatross in the field. We used this same bacterial strain to establish a serological assay allowing the monitoring of antibody levels following bird vaccination. Using this vaccine on chicks 2 weeks posthatching caused 100% seroconversion and reduced the death risk by a factor exceeding 2.5, raising fledging probability from 14% to 46%. These results suggest that using a specifically tailored vaccine could be a key tool to effectively protect endangered seabirds from disease outbreaks threatening them with extinction.

Abstract: Sulfuric acid aerosols produced in the stratosphere following massive volcanic eruptions possess a mass-independent sulfur isotopic signature, acquired when volcanic SO2 experiences UV photooxidation. The volcanic data are consistent with laboratory SO2 photooxidation experiments using UV light at 248 nm (maximum absorption of ozone), whereas sulfur isotopic anomalies previously observed in Archean samples are consistent with photodissociation at 190–220 nm. A mechanism of SO2 photooxidation, occurring in the early stage of a stratospheric volcanic plume, in the range of 220–320 nm (weak band absorption of SO2), is also proposed. Since mass-independent sulfur isotope anomalies in stratospheric volcanic sulfate appear to depend on the exposure of SO2 to UV radiation, their measurements might therefore offer the possibility to determine the degree of UV penetration in the ozone-absorption window for the present and past atmospheres. They can also be used to determine the stratospheric or tropospheric nature of volcanic eruptions preserved in glaciological records, offering the possibility to reassess the climatic impact of past volcanic eruptions.