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Association between movement patterns, microbiome diversity, and potential pathogens of feral pigeons in dairy farms.
Individual-based Eco. 1:e146376 (2025)
The feedback between host behavior and disease transmission is well acknowledged,but empirical studies demonstrating the strength and direction of the associations be-tween individuals’ pathogens or microbiota composition and their movement are rare.We investigated these associations in feral pigeons (Columba livia domestica), a synan-thrope species known to host a plethora of zoonotic pathogens, predicting a positiveassociation between individual’s movement behavior and microbiota alpha diversity. Wecaptured pigeons in three dairy farms along an urbanization gradient in central Israeland combined GPS-tracking with total RNA-Sequencing to characterize pigeons’ move-ment and microbiota, respectively. We found that pigeons roosted primarily in humansettlements, with frequent visits to dairy farms and other agricultural sites. Microbiotadiversity and composition varied between sites and the individuals within them, andseveral pathogens relevant to poultry, cattle, and human-health were frequently detected(e.g. Escherichia and Clostridium). Pigeons in the urban site covered shorter distancesand carried a greater diversity of bacteria compared to those in rural sites. Beyond theseamong-site differences, exploratory individuals (measured by the number of unique lo-cations they visited) had more diverse microbiota, implying a role for individual behav-ioral traits in disease exposure and spread. We conclude that pigeons can potentiallyserve as transmission vectors among wildlife, livestock, and humans. Further, the as-sociations between host behavior and microbiota diversity emphasize the relevance ofindividually-targeted wildlife movement analyses for disease ecology and One Health.
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Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Keywords
Behavioral feedbacks, biotelemetry, disease ecology, individual variation,
microbiota, movement ecology, One Health, parasite transmission, spatial analysis
ISSN (print) / ISBN
3033-0947
e-ISSN
3033-0947
Journal
Individual-based Ecology
Quellenangaben
Volume: 1,
Article Number: e146376
Publisher
Pensoft
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
Institute of Environmental Medicine (IEM)