Pathogen pollution in critically endangered vultures in The Gambia, West Africa

The Gambia is home to seven vulture species, of which six are under threat of extinction: four critically endangered and two endangered. As scavengers, vultures provide crucial ecological services through devouring carrion and carcasses, thereby cycling nutrients and eliminating potentially harmful pathogens from the environment. This may mitigate spread of diseases, with impacts across local food webs and knock-on effects to human health and economies. Critically endangered hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus), the focal species of the project, maintain a strong population in the Gambia despite continental decline. These birds are commensal with humans in the country, living in and around settlements. In this shared space, it is likely both humans and vultures are exposed to a similar suite of pathogens, including from livestock and other shared food sources. Despite strong immune systems, vultures are still susceptible to diseases of conservation and public health concern, such as avian influenza. Vultures have also been found to carry antimicrobial resistant bacterial pathogens. Understanding pathogen community ecology in hooded vultures and other vulture species, could not only guide efforts for the conservation of threatened keystone species, but sentinel for emerging zoonoses, threats to livestock health and provide a bioindicator for AMR. The 'One Health' approach emphasises interconnectivity between human, animal and environmental health, using cross-sectoral collaboration and integrated methods to combat global threats to each of these areas. Global vulture decline, and potential consequences of their loss, exemplifies the need for a One Health approach to zoonotic disease issues. Gambian vultures are already the subject of transdisciplinary research, including population monitoring, genetic, and parasite diversity studies. This project aims to expand this remit to include pathogen community ecology, exploring pathogenic threats affecting the health and conservation status of Gambian vultures, as well as the role these birds play in human health challenges. The transdisciplinary nature of the project lends itself to many routes of exploration - at this early stage, this is a non-exhaustive list of focus areas: 1. Pathogen community ecology of hooded vultures and other vulture species in the Gambia 2. Potential sources of pathogen pollution in the environment. 3. Risk of zoonotic and reverse zoonotic disease transmission between vultures and humans. 4. The role that vultures play in human, domestic and wild animal, and environmental health, through ecosystem service provision 5. The impact of pathogenic threats and environmental pathogenic pollution on hooded vulture populations, and if needed identification of mitigation strategies to aid conservation efforts. 6. Local knowledge, perceptions, and sociocultural value of vultures in the Gambia Part of the OneZoo Centre for Doctoral training, and supported by UKRI through three research councils - BBSRC, MRC, NERC, this project aligns with these bodies' key strategic challenge areas: "bioscience for an integrated understanding of health"; "global health" and "infections and immunity" research; and "ecology, biodiversity and systematics", respectively. Skills necessary for this project to succeed align with UKRI priorities and will come from a variety of disciplines. These include: - Ecological skills - field work, including collection of biological and environmental samples and population monitoring - Molecular biology skills - PCR, DNA sequencing, serological analysis etc, for the identification and quantification of pathogen species, as well as exploration of genetic diversity and structure in vulture populations - Social science skills - exploration of sociocultural perspectives - Statistical and data science skills, including bioinformatics Keywords: one health, vultures, ecosystem services, zoonoses, pathogen pollution, conservation