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Birrer, S. & P. Horch

Vögel tragen kaum zur Ausbreitung des Feuerbrandes in der Schweiz bei.

2017

114

275–282

Key words
(von 1994 bis 2006 vergeben)

Schlagwort_Vogelart
(wissenschaftlich)

Sturnus vulgaris, Phylloscopus collybita, Cyanistes caeruleus, Milvus milvus, Turdus sp.

Schlagwort_Vogelart
(deutsch)

Star, Zilpzalp, Blaumeise, Rotmilan, Drosseln

Schweiz, Europa

deutsch

Abhandlung

Fire blight is hardly transmitted by birds in Switzerland. – In agriculture, fire blight is a dreaded plant disease, as it can induce dieback in pome trees and cause considerable economic damage. Birds have been repeatedly mentioned as transmitters of fire blight by agricultural representatives. As a consequence, measures targeted against birds have been propagated to limit the spread of the disease. Such measures are likely to destroy potential habitats of birds and other wildlife. Habitat might be strongly reduced in quality or might even become entirely inaccessible. In a literature review, we investigated evidence for and against the spread of fire blight by birds. Scientific laboratory studies merely showed that fire blight bacteria applied to birds’ feet survived up to nine days, and that fire blight bacteria can occur in faeces of Starlings. On the whole, the hypothesis that birds are regular and major transmitters of fire blight is only weakly supported. Other disease transmission routes, however, have been scientifically confirmed, or there is strong evidence for them: plant trade, contaminated cutting tools, wind, rain, and insects. We conclude that birds only play a minor role in the spread of fire blight. In quite a number of Swiss agricultural leaflets, birds are erroneously mentioned as major transmitters of fire blight. This needs to be corrected. In some of the leaflets, measures are recommended that are directly or indirectly targeted against birds. Such measures will not effectively help to reduce the spread of fire flight.