TY  - STD
AU  - Boulinier, T.
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Infectious diseases as a threat to albatrosses and petrels: from basic immuno-ecology to perspectives for conservation. Invited keynote speaker, 6th International Albatross and Petrel Conference, Barcelona, September 2016.
N2  - Infectious diseases are a relatively neglected but potentially important threat to populations of albatrosses and petrels. This is notably so for species breeding in dense aggregations, which can be the subject of recurrent local epizooties, such as in the case of avian cholera in albatrosses of Amsterdam Island, in the Southern Indian Ocean. With regards to parasites and diseases, the life histories of albatrosses and petrels, with their very long lifespan and high site fidelity, also make them potentially interesting model systems to explore whether and how their immune system has evolved special features to protect them against potential recurrent exposure to parasites at the breeding site. In this context, I will present how basic immune-ecological investigations led us to some original findings about variations in the temporal persistence of maternal antibodies in birds, with some potential implications for conservation. More specifically, after finding that antibodies transmitted by the mother to the chick through the egg yolk can persist more than two months after hatching in the Cory’s shearwater, we have started to explore variability of this immune trait among seabird species and some possible application to conservation in the case of an infectious disease harming young albatross chicks. The results of this work, which implies collaborations with several groups of biologists, stress that the Procellariiforms may be very special with regard to their acquired immunity. They also open some promising venue for the use of vaccination in the wild in some critical situations. More generally, the findings highlight the interest of exploring the many ways wild populations have evolved to respond to the variability of the environment in which they have been living.
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ID  - Boulinier2016
ER  -