Summary: Ecological Applications, 18(5), 2008, pp. 1083­1092
Ó 2008 by the Ecological Society of America
URBAN LAND USE PREDICTS WEST NILE VIRUS
EXPOSURE IN SONGBIRDS
CATHERINE A. BRADLEY,1,3
SAMANTHA E. J. GIBBS,2,4
AND SONIA ALTIZER
1
1
Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202 USA
2
The Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202 USA
Abstract. Urbanization is a widespread phenomenon that is likely to influence the
prevalence and impact of wildlife pathogens, with implications for wildlife management and
public health policies toward zoonotic pathogens. In this study, wild songbird populations
were sampled at 14 sites along an urban­rural gradient in the greater metropolitan Atlanta
(Georgia, USA) area and tested for antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV). The level of
urbanization among sites was quantitatively assessed using a principal component analysis of
key land use characteristics. In total, 499 individual birds were tested during the spring and

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

Collections: Environmental Sciences and Ecology