Abstract
Abstract
Background
The prevalence of avian haemosporidian parasites and the factors influencing infection in the Colorado Rocky Mountains are largely unknown. With climate change expected to promote the expansion of vector and avian blood parasite distributions, baseline knowledge and continued monitoring of the prevalence and diversity of these parasites is needed.
Methods
Using an occupancy modeling framework, we conducted a survey of haemosporidian parasite species infecting an avian community in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in order to estimate the prevalence and diversity of blood parasites and to investigate species-level and individual-level characteristics that may influence infection.
Results
We estimated the prevalence and diversity of avian Haemosporidia across 24 bird species, detecting 39 parasite haplotypes. We found that open-cup nesters have higher Haemoproteus prevalence than cavity or ground nesters. Additionally, we found that male Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-crowned Sparrows, and Wilson’s Warblers have higher Haemoproteus prevalence compared to other host species. Plasmodium prevalence was relatively low (5%), consistent with the idea that competent vectors may be rare at high altitudes.
Conclusions
Our study presents baseline knowledge of haemosporidian parasite presence, prevalence, and diversity among avian species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and adds to our knowledge of host–parasite relationships of blood parasites and their avian hosts.
Graphical Abstract
Funder
National Science Foundation
The Wildlife Society
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Parasitology
Reference92 articles.
1. Tompkins DM, Begon M. Parasites can regulate wildlife populations. Parasitol Today. 1999;15:311–3.
2. Schmid HP. Evolutionary parasitology: the integrated study of infections, immunology, ecology, and genetics. New York: Oxford University Press; 2011.
3. Hochachka WM, Dhondt AA. Density-dependent decline of host abundance resulting from a new infectious disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2000;97:5303–6.
4. Ricklefs RE, Medeiros M, Ellis VA, Svensson-Coelho M, Blake JG, Loiselle BA, et al. Avian migration and the distribution of malaria parasites in New World passerine birds. J Biogeogr. 2016;44:1113–23.
5. Laine AL. Role of coevolution in generating biological diversity: spatially divergent selection trajectories. J Exp Bot. 2009;60:2957–70.
Cited by
7 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献