Integrating these community metrics into surveillance is crucial for early warning & preventing future epidemics! #AvianResearch #HPAI #DiseaseEcology

Our three-paper series makes a clear case that waterbird community composition and specific functional/phylogenetic traits are robust, predictable drivers of HPAI H5 outbreaks.

We found that phylogenetic diversity consistently shows a negative association with H5 occurrence (phylogenetic dilution effect).
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Another follow-up publication at #EcologicalApplications further developed these findings by focusing on #phylogenetic #diversity and epidemic consistency across H5N1 (2005/06) & H5Nx (2016/17, 2020/21).

Specifically, functional divergence (diversity) in waterbird communities seems to reduce H5Nx infection risk (dilution effect).
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The foundation of this work was laid in our earlier work published at #EcologyLetters. We showed that functional traits explain AIV infection outcomes. #EcologyLetters #TraitBasedEcology

A massive thanks to my key collaborator, former PI, Dr. Zheng Y.X. Huang, for his essential leadership and support on this research journey! 🙏

We confirm that factors driving HPAI risk are consistent across different H5 subtypes & clades (H5N1, #H5N8 #2344b, #H5N1 2.3.4.4b). Phylogenetic divergence metrics offer powerful predictions for HPAI outbreaks.
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I just listened to the lead author talking about this work, a fabulous work