Vector abundance determines Trypanosoma prevalence in nestling blue tits
2013
Martínez de la Puente, Josué | Martínez, Javier | Rivero de Aguilar, Juan | Cerro, Sonia del | Merino, Santiago
Theeffect of insect vectors on avian exposure to infection by pathogens remains poorly studied. Here, we used an insect repellent treatment toreduce the numberof blood-sucking flying insects in blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests andexamined its effectonnestlinghealthstatusmeasuredasbodymass,nestlingphytohaemagglutinin(PHA)responseandbloodparasite prevalence.Wefoundthat(i) theinsectrepellent treatmentsignificantlyreducedthenumberofblood-suckingflyinginsects in nests and (ii) the numberof blood-sucking flying insects had a significant effect on the prevalence of the blood parasite Trypanosoma independently of the treatment. In addition, we found support for an adverse effect of parasite infections on nestlingPHAresponse. Nestlings infected byTrypanosomamounteda weaker response against PHAthan non-parasitized ones. In addition, the number of blowflies in the nest was negatively associated with nestling PHAresponse. Overall, we found support for the hypothesis that blood-sucking flying insects attacking nestlings increase their exposure to parasite infections. Ourresults further substantiate the adverse effect of parasites on nestling condition.
Show more [+] Less [-]Peer reviewed
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Estación Biológica de Doñana