High prevalence of haemosporidians in Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus in Spain

Abstract

Apicomplexan blood parasites (genera Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon) prevalence in two related species (Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Sedge Warbler A. schoenobaenus) was studied in 2006 at the Natural Reserve of Castronuno-Vega del Duero, Western Spain, a stopover area during the autumn migration. A fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of the parasites was amplified, using a nested PCR assay, from avian blood samples. High prevalence of malaria parasites was found in both species, 84.6% in Reed Warbler and 71.8% in Sedge Warbler, and the degree of infection reach 100% of the population that breed at the Reserve, suggesting good conditions for the development of dipteran vectors in this area. By sequencing 464 nucleotides of the obtained fragments, we found four different mitochondrial haplotypes of Haemoproteus or Plasmodium in the two species analysed. Leucocytozoon infection was not detected, in contrast to the high prevalence of this parasite in other avian species in Spain, probably because the water course studied is not an adequate habitat for its vectors.