Premium
Transmission of influenza reflects seasonality of wild birds across the annual cycle
Author(s) -
Hill Nichola J.,
Ma Eric J.,
Meixell Brandt W.,
Lindberg Mark S.,
Boyce Walter M.,
Runstadler Jonathan A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.12629
Subject(s) - biology , overwintering , reassortment , transmission (telecommunications) , ecology , annual cycle , intraspecific competition , host (biology) , cline (biology) , range (aeronautics) , bird migration , interspecific competition , seasonality , zoology , covid-19 , population , medicine , materials science , demography , disease , pathology , sociology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , electrical engineering , composite material , engineering
Influenza A Viruses (IAV) in nature must overcome shifting transmission barriers caused by the mobility of their primary host, migratory wild birds, that change throughout the annual cycle. Using a phylogenetic network of viral sequences from North American wild birds (2008–2011) we demonstrate a shift from intraspecific to interspecific transmission that along with reassortment, allows IAV to achieve viral flow across successive seasons from summer to winter. Our study supports amplification of IAV during summer breeding seeded by overwintering virus persisting locally and virus introduced from a wide range of latitudes. As birds migrate from breeding sites to lower latitudes, they become involved in transmission networks with greater connectivity to other bird species, with interspecies transmission of reassortant viruses peaking during the winter. We propose that switching transmission dynamics may be a critical strategy for pathogens that infect mobile hosts inhabiting regions with strong seasonality.