Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain.
Oecologia. 2013 Apr;171(4):853-61. doi: 10.1007/s00442-012-2444-3. Epub 2012 Sep 11.
Carry-over effects take place when events occurring in one season influence individual performance in a subsequent season. Blood parasites (e.g. Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) have strong negative effects on the body condition of their hosts and could slow the rate of feather growth on the wintering grounds. In turn, these winter moult costs could reduce reproductive success in the following breeding season. In house martins Delichon urbica captured and studied at a breeding site in Europe, we used ptilochronology to measure growth rate of tail feathers moulted on the winter range in Africa, and assessed infection status of blood parasites transmitted on the wintering grounds. We found a negative association between haemosporidian parasite infection status and inferred growth rate of tail feathers. A low feather growth rate and blood parasite infections were related to a delay in laying date in their European breeding quarters. In addition, clutch size and the number of fledglings were negatively related to a delayed laying date and blood parasite infection. These results stress the importance of blood parasites and feather growth rate as potentially mechanisms driving carry-over effects to explain fitness differences in wild populations of migratory birds.
当一个季节发生的事件影响到随后一个季节的个体表现时，就会出现滞后效应。血液寄生虫（如疟原虫和血变原虫）对宿主的身体状况有很强的负面影响，可能会减缓冬季栖息地的羽毛生长速度。反过来，这些冬季换羽的成本可能会降低下一个繁殖季节的繁殖成功率。在我们于欧洲的一个繁殖地对家燕（Delichon urbica）进行的捕获和研究中，我们使用翼羽生长时间测量法来衡量在非洲冬季栖息地脱落的尾羽的生长速度，并评估在冬季栖息地传播的血液寄生虫的感染状况。我们发现血液寄生虫感染状况与推断的尾羽生长速度之间存在负相关关系。低的羽毛生长速度和血液寄生虫感染与欧洲繁殖区产卵日期的延迟有关。此外，卵的数量和育雏数量与产卵日期的延迟和血液寄生虫感染呈负相关。这些结果强调了血液寄生虫和羽毛生长速度作为潜在机制在解释候鸟野生种群中适应度差异方面的重要性。
