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Extremely low malaria prevalence in a wetland specialist passerine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Eszter Szöllősi Open the ORCID record for Eszter Szöllősi [Opens in a new window] ,
Zsófia Tóth ,
Katharina Mahr ,
Herbert Hoi  and
Ádám Z. Lendvai
Eszter Szöllősi*
Affiliation:
Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Behavioural Ecology Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, 1117Budapest, Hungary
Zsófia Tóth
Affiliation:
Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032Debrecen, Hungary
Katharina Mahr
Affiliation:
Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032Debrecen, Hungary Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (KLIVV), University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1a, A-1160Vienna, Austria
Herbert Hoi
Affiliation:
Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (KLIVV), University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstraße 1a, A-1160Vienna, Austria
Ádám Z. Lendvai
Affiliation:
Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032Debrecen, Hungary Department of Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Str. Mihail Kogalniceanu nr. 1, 400084Cluj-Napoca, Romania
*
Author for correspondence: Eszter Szöllősi, E-mail: eszter.szollosi@ttk.elte.hu
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Abstract

Avian malaria (caused by Plasmodium spp.) and avian malaria-like infections (caused by Haemoproteus spp.) are widespread and can seriously affect the health of their bird hosts, especially of immunologically naïve individuals. Therefore, these parasites have long been in the focus of bird-parasite studies. However, the species richness and diversity of these protozoan species have only been revealed since the use of molecular techniques. Diversity and prevalence of these parasites among different bird species and even between populations of a species show a large variation. Here, we investigated prevalence of avian malaria and avian malaria-like parasites in two distant populations of a non-migratory wetland specialist passerine, the bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus). While previous studies have shown that reed-dwelling bird species often carry various blood parasite lineages and the presence of the vectors transmitting Plasmodium and Haemoproteus species has been confirmed from our study sites, prevalence of these parasites was extremely low in our populations. This may either suggest that bearded reedlings may avoid or quickly clear these infections, or these parasites cause high mortality in this species. The remarkably low prevalence of infection in this species is consistent with earlier studies and makes bearded reedlings a possible model organism for investigating the genetic or behavioural adaptations of parasite resistance.

Keywords

Bearded tithaemosporidiaimmune statusmosquitoreed bedtolerance
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 147 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 87 - 95
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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