Geographic, ecological, and temporal patterns of seabird mortality during the 2022 HPAI H 5 N 1 outbreak on the island of Newfoundland Author McPhail, Gretchen M. Author Collins, Sydney M. Author Burt, Tori V. Author Careen, Noah G. Author Doiron, Parker B. Author Avery-Gomm, Stephanie Author Barychka, Tatsiana Author English, Matthew D. Author Giacinti, Jolene A. Author Jones, Megan E. B. Author Provencher, Jennifer F. Author Soos, Catherine Author Ward, Christopher R. E. Author Duffy, Steven Author Wilhelm, Sabina I. Author Wight, Jordan Author Rahman, Ishraq Author Hargan, Kathryn E. Author Lang, Andrew S. Author Montevecchi, William A. text Canadian Journal of Zoology 2025 2025-01-01 103 6 1 12 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2024-0012 journal article 10.1139/cjz-2024-0012 1480-3283 15624780

Table 2. Seabird ecological traits that influence the frequency and (or) duration of interaction with other seabirds, predictions regarding how these traits will influence exposure and transmission from a virus (Vulnerability column), species-specific traits (see Table S1; NOGA = Northern Gannets Morus bassanus (Linnaeus, 1758), COMU = Common Murre Uria aalge (Pontoppidan, 1763), ATPU = Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica (Linnaeus, 1758), BLKI = Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla (Linnaeus, 1758)), exploratory predictions for observed mortality if the associated trait is the key factor determining infection rates, and a comparison of each prediction with the observed species-specific mortality.

Trait	Vulnerability	NOGA	COMU	ATPU	BLKI	Prediction	Result
Inter-nest distance	Species with a small inter-nest distance will likely make direct contact with conspecifics or contaminated feces more frequently or for longer	Often	Often	Rarely	Sometimes	NOGA = COMU> BLKI> ATPU	Mostly supported
Overlap of nesting habitat	Species that share nesting habitat with allospecifics will likely make direct contact with allospecifics or contaminated feces more frequently and (or) for longer	Often	Often	Rarely	Often	NOGA = COMU = BLKI> ATPU	Partially supported
Roosting/resting with conspecifics	Species which roost/rest together outside of the nest at the colony (on land) will likely make direct contact with conspecifics or contaminated feces more frequently and (or) for longer	Often	Often	Often	Often	NOGA = COMU = ATPU = BLKI	Not supported
Roosting/resting with allospecifics	Species which roost/rest with allospecifics outside of the nest at the colony (on land) will likely make direct contact with allospecifics or contaminated feces more frequently and (or) for longer	Rarely	Often	Often	Often	COMU = ATPU = BLKI> NOGA	Not supported
Breeding phenology and timing of parental nest attendance	Breeding phenology varies among species and colonies; adult attendance at the nest is much higher during egg incubation and brooding than chick-rearing and post-fledging, so birds that were present at the nest during an outbreak are more likely to make contact with infected individuals or environments	Often	Sometimes	Rarely	Sometimes	NOGA> COMU = BLKI> ATPU	Mostly supported
Foraging/rafting/resting with conspecifics from the same colony	Species that forage, raft, or rest with conspecifics at sea will likely make direct contact with conspecifics or contaminated environments (i.e., seawater) more frequently and (or) for longer	Often	Often	Often	Often	NOGA = COMU = ATPU = BLKI	Not supported
Foraging/rafting/resting with allospecifics from the same colony	Species that forage, raft, or rest with allospecifics at sea will likely make contact with allospecifics or contaminated environments more frequently and (or) for longer	Sometimes	Often	Often	Often	COMU = ATPU = BLKI> NOGA	Not supported
Foraging/rafting/resting with conspecifics from different colonies	Species that forage, raft, or rest with conspecifics at sea will likely make contact with conspecifics or contaminated environments more frequently and (or) for longer	Rarely	Sometimes	Rarely	Sometimes	COMU = BLKI> NOGA = ATPU	Partially supported
Foraging/rafting/resting with allospecifics from different colonies	Species that forage, raft, or rest with allospecifics at sea will likely make contact with allospecifics or contaminated environments more frequently and (or) for longer	Often	Sometimes	Rarely	Sometimes	NOGA> COMU = BLKI> ATPU	Mostly supported
Diet	Species that feed on other birds may contract the virus through ingestion of infected tissue; species that feed exclusively on fish, which are less likely to carry HPAI than birds, are less likely to contract the virus from ingestion of prey	Rarely	Rarely	Rarely	Rarely	Low for all	Not supported