Health Concerns for Bald Eagles

Health Concerns for Bald Eagles, as it relates to invasive plants in South Eastern lakes.

Dr. Susan Wilde, University of Georgia discovered Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy (AVM). University of Georgia researchers have formally identified and named toxic cyanobacteria that have been killing American bald eagles across the Southeast.

After years of studying the cyanobacteria coating the leaves of water plants in lakes, researchers in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources have determined that it is a previously undiscovered species in a new genus. In a paper published recently in the journal Phytotaxa, they named it Aetokthonos hydrillicola and lay out evidence that it is responsible for the eagle deaths.

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