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Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat

BACKGROUND: The low prevalence of blood parasites in some bird species may be related to the habitats they frequent, the inexistence of the right host-parasite assemblage or the immunological capacity of the host. Here, we assess the parasite load of breeding populations of Eleonora’s falcon (Falco...

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Autores principales: Gutiérrez-López, Rafael, Gangoso, Laura, Martínez-de la Puente, Josué, Fric, Jakob, López-López, Pascual, Mailleux, Mélanie, Muñoz, Joaquín, Touati, Laïd, Samraoui, Boudjema, Figuerola, Jordi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381668/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25889120
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-0802-9
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author Gutiérrez-López, Rafael
Gangoso, Laura
Martínez-de la Puente, Josué
Fric, Jakob
López-López, Pascual
Mailleux, Mélanie
Muñoz, Joaquín
Touati, Laïd
Samraoui, Boudjema
Figuerola, Jordi
author_facet Gutiérrez-López, Rafael
Gangoso, Laura
Martínez-de la Puente, Josué
Fric, Jakob
López-López, Pascual
Mailleux, Mélanie
Muñoz, Joaquín
Touati, Laïd
Samraoui, Boudjema
Figuerola, Jordi
author_sort Gutiérrez-López, Rafael
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The low prevalence of blood parasites in some bird species may be related to the habitats they frequent, the inexistence of the right host-parasite assemblage or the immunological capacity of the host. Here, we assess the parasite load of breeding populations of Eleonora’s falcon (Falco eleonorae), a medium-sized long-distance migratory raptor that breeds on small isolated islets throughout the Mediterranean basin and overwinters in inland Madagascar. METHODS: We examined the prevalence and genetic diversity of the blood parasites belonging to the genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon in Eleonora’s falcon nestlings from five colonies and in adults from two colonies from nesting sites distributed throughout most of the species’ breeding range. RESULTS: None of the 282 nestlings analysed were infected by blood parasites; on the other hand, the lineages of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon were all found to infect adults. Our results support the idea of no local transmission of vector-borne parasites in marine habitats. Adult Eleonora’s falcons thus may be infected by parasites when on migration or in their wintering areas. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of marine environments with a lack of appropriate vectors may thus be the key factor determining the absence of local transmission of blood parasites. By comparing the parasite lineages isolated in this species with those previously found in other birds we were able to infer the most likely areas for the transmission of the various parasite lineages.
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spelling pubmed-43816682015-04-02 Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat Gutiérrez-López, Rafael Gangoso, Laura Martínez-de la Puente, Josué Fric, Jakob López-López, Pascual Mailleux, Mélanie Muñoz, Joaquín Touati, Laïd Samraoui, Boudjema Figuerola, Jordi Parasit Vectors Research BACKGROUND: The low prevalence of blood parasites in some bird species may be related to the habitats they frequent, the inexistence of the right host-parasite assemblage or the immunological capacity of the host. Here, we assess the parasite load of breeding populations of Eleonora’s falcon (Falco eleonorae), a medium-sized long-distance migratory raptor that breeds on small isolated islets throughout the Mediterranean basin and overwinters in inland Madagascar. METHODS: We examined the prevalence and genetic diversity of the blood parasites belonging to the genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon in Eleonora’s falcon nestlings from five colonies and in adults from two colonies from nesting sites distributed throughout most of the species’ breeding range. RESULTS: None of the 282 nestlings analysed were infected by blood parasites; on the other hand, the lineages of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon were all found to infect adults. Our results support the idea of no local transmission of vector-borne parasites in marine habitats. Adult Eleonora’s falcons thus may be infected by parasites when on migration or in their wintering areas. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of marine environments with a lack of appropriate vectors may thus be the key factor determining the absence of local transmission of blood parasites. By comparing the parasite lineages isolated in this species with those previously found in other birds we were able to infer the most likely areas for the transmission of the various parasite lineages. BioMed Central 2015-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC4381668/ /pubmed/25889120 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-0802-9 Text en © Gutiérrez-López et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Gutiérrez-López, Rafael
Gangoso, Laura
Martínez-de la Puente, Josué
Fric, Jakob
López-López, Pascual
Mailleux, Mélanie
Muñoz, Joaquín
Touati, Laïd
Samraoui, Boudjema
Figuerola, Jordi
Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
title Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
title_full Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
title_fullStr Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
title_full_unstemmed Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
title_short Low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
title_sort low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381668/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25889120
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-0802-9
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