UCLA Institute of the Environment - Center for Tropical Research

Research

Our research is divided into four parts:

1. Identifying the distribution and prevalence of avian influenza strains in Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds.
2. Establishing the extent to which AIV distributions correlate with known patterns of migratory connectivity.
3. Determining the incidence of AIV transmission from birds to humans and whether the strain distributions in humans reflect the strain distributions in birds.
4. Identifying, using remote sensing data, the environmental variables that are associated with AIV strain distribution.  This data will be incorporated into ecological models used to predict how human changes in habitat can affect transmission dynamics between migratory species, between migratory and resident species, and between birds and humans.

These studies take advantage of our unique collaboration with the major bird banding station networks in the Americas, our extensive experience in avian field research in Central Africa, and UCLA’s unique resources and expertise in infectious diseases.

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Collaborating Organizations

Collaborators on this project include the following organizations:

• The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) created and coordinates four landbird monitoring programs that utilize mist netting and banding:
  • Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) - breeding season monitoring across North America
  • Monitoreo de Sobrevivencia Invernal (MoSI) - winter monitoring in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean
  • Monitoring Avian Winter Survival (MAWS) - winter monitoring in the southern U.S.
  • Molt Migration Stopover (MoMS) - monitoring of molt-migrant species in the North American Monsoon region
• The Landbird Monitoring Network of the Americas (LaMNA), coordinated by the U.S. forest service redwood science lab.
• UCLA’s High Speed, High Volume Laboratory Network for Infectious Diseases
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• NIH/NIAID Laboratory of Infectious Diseases
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory

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AIV Project Contact Information

Emily Curd
Research Associate, Center for Tropical Research
University of California, Los Angeles
621 Charles E. Young Drive South
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606
Lab:  (310) 825-0253
Cell: (413) 204-9829
Fax:  (310) 825-5446
Email: eecurd@ucla.edu

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