Parasite prevalence corresponds to host life history in a diverse assemblage of afrotropical birds and haemosporidian parasites.

Holly L Lutz,Joshua I Engel,John M Bates,Shannon J Hackett,Wesley M Hochachka,Jeffrey A Bell,Jason D Weckstein,Vasyl V Tkach

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121254

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.

Highlights

Vector-borne pathogens are responsible for a vast number of diseases that negatively impact animal and human health
We found that host flocking behavior was an important predictor of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus infections, and that habitat was an important predictor of infection by Leucocytozoon only (Fig. 2A-I)
We found that multiple bird life history traits, some of which are related directly to nesting biology, are significantly associated with rates of parasitism by haemosporidia in Malawi

Summary

Introduction

Vector-borne pathogens are responsible for a vast number of diseases that negatively impact animal and human health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion