Reply to Tillitt et al. 2012: Thiamine deficiency: A viable hypothesis for paralytic syndrome in Baltic birds

摘要

We thank Tillitt et al. (this issue) for their interest in our review of paralysis in wild birds (Sonne et al., 2012), a subject that has attracted much attention and debate amongst the scientific community (Balk et al., 2010; Rocke and Barker, 2010). It was not our intention to reject the hypothesis that thiamine deficiency is linked to the paralytic syndrome observed in European bird species. Our aim was to assess the evidence provided by Balk et al. (2009) to establish a link between overall population declines and the incidence of paralysis in the bird species investigated by the authors. Particularly, we wanted to underline that other factors might also be important for the population dynamics in these species. We see parallels between the Baltic situation and the example provided by Tillitt et al. (this issue), not least in the skepticism shown by the scientific community. However, as advisors to the authorities it is important for us to ensure that we deliver evidence-based management recommendations and on the basis of our literature review, we still consider that the links between thiamine deficiency and impacts at the population level links are not well established by Balk et al. (2009).