BirdLife Victoria Public Talk – Melbourne: Animal migration and Global disease

The talk by Alice Risely is on

‘Why we shouldn’t be too quick to blame migratory animals for global disease’.

Migratory animals are often assumed to spread pathogens around the globe, for example avian influenzas in birds and ebola viruses in bats. However, there is remarkably few demonstrated dispersal events, which has cast doubt on the role of migratory animals in global disease dispersal. During her PhD, Alice Risely examined some of the mechanisms that are assumed to underpin this relationship, including whether animals can migrate effectively when infected, and how susceptible they are to microorganisms during migration. She worked with red-necked stint and curlew sandpiper as model organisms to answer some of these questions.

Where: Ground floor, 60 Leicester St, Carlton. Free parking out front.
When: 7:30 pm Thursday 8th March.

Organised by the BirdLife Victoria Group.