Journal article
Parasite Prevalence Corresponds to Host Life History in a Diverse Assemblage of Afrotropical Birds and Haemosporidian Parasites
PloS one, v 10(4), pp e0121254-e0121254
08 Apr 2015
PMID: 25853491
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Avian host life history traits have been hypothesized to predict rates of infection by haemosporidian parasites. Using molecular techniques, we tested this hypothesis for parasites from three haemosporidian genera (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon) collected from a diverse sampling of birds in northern Malawi. We found that host life history traits were significantly associated with parasitism rates by all three parasite genera. Nest type and nest location predicted infection probability for all three parasite genera, whereas flocking behavior is an important predictor of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus infection and habitat is an important predictor of Leucocytozoon infection. Parasite prevalence was 79.1% across all individuals sampled, higher than that reported for comparable studies from any other region of the world. Parasite diversity was also exceptionally high, with 248 parasite cytochrome b lineages identified from 152 host species. A large proportion of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon parasite DNA sequences identified in this study represent new, previously undocumented lineages (n = 201; 81% of total identified) based on BLAST queries against the avian malaria database, MalAvi.
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Details
- Title
- Parasite Prevalence Corresponds to Host Life History in a Diverse Assemblage of Afrotropical Birds and Haemosporidian Parasites
- Creators
- Holly L. Lutz - Field Museum of Natural HistoryWesley M. Hochachka - Cornell UniversityJoshua I. Engel - Field Museum of Natural HistoryJeffrey A. Bell - University of North DakotaVasyl V. Tkach - University of North DakotaJohn M. Bates - Field Museum of Natural HistoryShannon J. Hackett - Field Museum of Natural HistoryJason D. Weckstein - Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
- Publication Details
- PloS one, v 10(4), pp e0121254-e0121254
- Publisher
- Public Library Science
- Number of pages
- 24
- Grant note
- Dr. Ralph and Mariam Faulk Medical Research Trust 1120734 / Division Of Environmental Biology; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) Field Museum of Natural History's Emerging Pathogens Project - Davee Foundation
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000352478400033
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84928911447
- Other Identifier
- 991019350671804721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology