Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Aug;83(2):395-9. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.10-0048.
The hypothesis that nestlings are a significant driver of arbovirus transmission and amplification is based upon findings that suggest nestlings are highly susceptible to being fed upon by vector mosquitoes and to viral infection and replication. Several previous studies have suggested that nestlings are preferentially fed upon relative to adults in the nest, and other studies have reported a preference for adults over nestlings. We directly tested the feeding preference of nestling and adult birds in a natural setting, introducing mosquitoes into nesting boxes containing eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), collecting blood-fed mosquitoes, and matching the source of mosquito blood meals to individual birds using microsatellite markers. Neither nestlings nor adults were fed upon to an extent significantly greater than would be predicted based upon their relative abundance in the nests, although feeding upon mothers decreased as the age of the nestlings increased.
雏鸟是虫媒病毒传播和扩增的重要驱动力这一假说，是基于以下发现：雏鸟极易受到携带病毒的蚊子的叮咬，并且容易受到病毒的感染和复制。几项先前的研究表明，与巢中的成鸟相比，雏鸟更容易被蚊子叮咬，而其他研究则报告说，蚊子更喜欢叮咬成鸟而不是雏鸟。我们在自然环境中直接测试了雏鸟和成鸟的取食偏好，将蚊子引入含有东部蓝鸟（Sialia sialis）的巢箱中，收集吸食血液的蚊子，并使用微卫星标记将蚊子血液来源与个体鸟类匹配。无论是雏鸟还是成鸟，其取食程度都没有明显超过根据其在巢中的相对丰度所预测的程度，尽管随着雏鸟年龄的增长，对母亲的取食减少了。
