{"id":12189,"date":"2017-01-09T09:06:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T16:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=12189"},"modified":"2017-01-09T09:06:59","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T16:06:59","slug":"weather-radar-helps-researchers-track-bird-flu-from-the-university-of-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/01\/09\/weather-radar-helps-researchers-track-bird-flu-from-the-university-of-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather radar helps researchers track bird flu – From the University of California"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ducks\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Planting Seeds blog will feature stories this month relating to animal health issues and the activities of CDFA’s Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services.<\/a> CDFA works closely with the University of California on these issues.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By Pamela Kan-Rice, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same weather radar technology used to predict rain is now giving UC researchers the ability to track wild birds that could carry the avian influenza virus.\u00a0Avian influenza, which kills chickens, turkeys and other birds, can take a significant economic toll on the poultry industry. In 2014-15, the United States experienced its worst bird flu outbreak in history, resulting in more than 48 million birds dying in 15 states, including California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use the existing network of weather radar stations in the U.S. in the same way that radar is used to track rain, except that we process the data to allow us to interpret the radar signal bouncing off birds instead of raindrops,\u201d said Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist. \u201cThe data can be interpreted\u00a0to track birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEXRAD, or next-generation\u00a0radar, is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather\u00a0radars operated by the National Weather Service. The technology works best for tracking birds in the winter during feeding. When waterfowl leave their roosting locations in concert to feed, their bodies produce reflectivity of the radar beam.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy tracking mass bird movements remotely in real time, we hope to gain novel strategic insights with respect to surveillance and prevention of avian influenza transmission to domestic poultry,\u201d said Todd Kelman, a veterinarian and engineer who co-leads the project with Pitesky, who is also in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. They are exploring how the information might be used to prevent an outbreak.<\/p>\n

In California, waterfowl migrate by the millions from September through March via the Pacific Flyway, where they winter in wetlands, rice and corn fields. The Central Valley alone is home to 3 million waterfowl at the height of migration.<\/p>\n

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This NEXRAD map shows where migrating waterfowl are gathered in rice fields, herbaceous wetlands and other agricultural land.<\/em>
\nCredit: UC ANR<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUsing NEXRAD and various other approaches, we hope to be able to produce monthly or quarterly maps that will alert poultry producers as to the locations of waterfowl in the Central Valley of California,\u201d Pitesky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaterfowl populations can have different habitat based on the amount of precipitation in a given year,\u201d said Pitesky. \u201cTherefore, we need to use these types of monitoring tools to understand where waterfowl are located. Landsat, or satellite-based land imagery, and NEXRAD are two remote tools that may be very useful, as opposed to flyovers and banding, which are more expensive and not practical for large geographical areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project \u2014 funded by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources \u2014 is a collaboration between UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Jeff Buler, University of Delaware wildlife ecologist whose team first developed the NEXRAD approach in the Central Valley of California. They also are working with the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Poultry Federation, the Pacific Egg and Poultry Association and Point Blue, an organization that focuses on conservation science.<\/p>\n

Link to post<\/a><\/p>\n

CDFA takes precautions to prevent bird flu and other avian diseases<\/a><\/p>\n

CDFA’s Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services<\/a> protects:<\/em><\/p>\n