Avian malaria poses the threat of extinction to multiple unique Hawaiian forest bird species. With mosquito vector control as one of the likely tools needed to prevent such extinctions, a tool that helps to identify locations across the state where mosquito control can be prioritized can be critical in allocating scarce conservation resources. Combining daily temperature datasets provided by HCDP with mosquito development rate models calibrated to match field based mosquito occupancy across the landscape, we are generating such a tool. This work builds on a previous effort detailed at Berio Fortini, Lucas, Lauren R. Kaiser, and Dennis A. LaPointe. “Fostering Real-Time Climate Adaptation: Analyzing Past, Current, and Forecast Temperature to Understand the Dynamic Risk to Hawaiian Honeycreepers from Avian Malaria.” Global Ecology and Conservation 23 (September 1, 2020): e01069. .

The clearly identified link between temperature and avian malaria across the landscape threatens several unique native Hawaiian birds with extinction as the climate warms. With the new climatic datasets provided by HCDP, along with sampling of avian malaria prevalence across the landscape, we are identifying a host of other factors strongly associated with avian malaria prevalence, which can be extremely useful for Hawaiian forest bird conservation efforts.

Please contact Eben Paxton (epaxton@usgs.gov) and Lucas Fortini (lfortini@usgs.gov) for more info, as the work is ongoing.