Measurements of different forms of the metal strontium found in bird feathers could unravel mysteries of their migration patterns and help predict the arrival of avian carried diseases such as bird flu.
The news is reported in the latest edition of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.
Concerns about the spread of bird flu means there is an urgent need to find better ways of monitoring the movements of migrating birds.
Dr Laura Font and a team at the University of Durham measured strontium isotope levels in the feathers of the sedge warbler, and mapped how this changed with geographic location.
Dr Font said: "The routes of migrant birds have previously been studied using a variety of techniques, such as marking individuals with metal leg rings, radio or satellite tags, or simply counting bird numbers at migratory stop over points.
Migratory birds regularly renew their feathers, often prior to migration and the feathers tend to reflect the unique "isotopic signature" of the region in which they were grown.
Although analysis of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes can give a rough idea of the birds' origin, strontium isotope ratios in the bones, claws and egg shells of birds tend to provide a much more precise location.
Dr Font said: "
By determining migration pathways, the arrival of potential vectors of diseases from infected areas can be anticipated.
"Knowledge of migratory routes also helps evaluate the likelihood that individual avian influenza outbreaks could be related to migratory movements rather than anthropogenic activities, such as poultry movements, which are believed to be the main vector of avian influenza in most outbreaks."
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