Summary: Journal of Animal
Ecology 2004
73, 309­322
© 2004 British
Ecological Society
Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Seasonal dynamics of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in
eastern North American house finches
SONIA ALTIZER*, WESLEY M. HOCHACHKA and ANDRÉ A. DHONDT
Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 18540, USA
Summary
1. Mycoplasma gallisepticum is an emerging eye disease that spread rapidly among wild
housefinches(Carpodacusmexicanus)intheeasternUnitedStatesfollowinginitialreports
of infected birds in 1994. The hallmark signs of infection have allowed systematic
monitoring of disease at both local and continent-wide scales for more than 7 years
since the onset of the epidemic.
2. Using data collected by a network of citizen science volunteers, we examined both
long-term trends and seasonal dynamics of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in three differ-
ent climatic regions in eastern North America over a 77-month period (November
1994­March 2001).

Source: Altizer, Sonia M.- Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia

Collections: Environmental Sciences and Ecology