Dunn, JC, Stockdale, JE, Bradford, EL et al. (5 more authors) (2017) High rates of infection by blood parasites during the nestling phase in UK Columbids with notes on ecological associations. Parasitology, 144 (5). pp. 622-628. ISSN 0031-1820
Abstract
Studies of blood parasite infection in nestling birds rarely find a high prevalence of infection. This is likely due to a combination of short nestling periods (limiting the age at which nestlings can be sampled) and long parasite prepatent periods before gametocytes can be detected in peripheral blood. Here we examine rates of blood parasite infection in nestlings from three Columbid species in the UK. We use this system to address two key hypotheses in the epidemiology of avian haemoparasites: first, that nestlings in open nests have a higher prevalence of infection; and second, that nestlings sampled at 14 days old have a higher apparent infection rate than those sampled at 7 days old. Open-nesting individuals had a 54% infection rate compared with 25% for box-nesters, probably due to an increased exposure of open-nesting species to dipteran vectors. Nestlings sampled at 14 days had a 68% infection rate compared with 32% in nestlings sampled at 7 days, suggesting that rates of infection in the nest are high. Further work should examine nestlings post-fledging to identify rates of successful parasite infection (as opposed to abortive development within a dead-end host) as well as impacts on host post-fledging survival and behaviour.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Cambridge University Press 2016. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Parasitology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Haemoparasite, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, nesting ecology, parasite, PCR. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jan 2017 14:53 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2017 13:33 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182016002274 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/S0031182016002274 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:110038 |