Case closed on decades old mystery of American bald eagle deaths
Invasive plant and cyanobacterium join up to form a deadly duo that have been killing US wildlife
Chemical forensic work has solved the decades-old mystery of why bald eagles and other US wildlife have been dying of a severe neurodegenerative disease. The scientists have determined that the culprit is a neurotoxin produce by cynanobacteria that grow on invasive aquatic plants.
Study co-author Susan Wilde, an aquatic scientist at the University of Georgia, identified the previously unknown cyanobacterium that appeared to cause the disease known as avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM) on the leaves of Hydrilla verticillata in 2005. She named the bacterium Aetokthonos hydrillicola – ‘eagle killer that grows on Hydrilla’. At least 130 bald eagles have died since the discovery of AVM in 1994, and the figure covers just the recovered and properly diagnosed birds, so the real number of fatalities is likely higher.