Taylor H S, Morgan K J, Pomroy W E, McInnes K, Lopez-Villalobos N
Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand.
Wildbase, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand.
Parasitol Res. 2018 Sep;117(9):2997-3001. doi: 10.1007/s00436-018-5945-0. Epub 2018 Jun 12.
Captive rearing of wild brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) is widely carried out to assist in the recovery of this declining species. As a consequence, high densities of immunologically naïve kiwi are commonly housed in semi-captive conditions, with the potential to result in substantial morbidity and mortality from coccidiosis caused by multiple species of Eimeria. Previous research has described circadian variation in oocyst shedding across multiple avian host species. The aim of this research was to describe any circadian variation in oocyst shedding in brown kiwi. Droppings were collected from brown kiwi (n = 4) at a single captive rearing facility using video surveillance to determine the time of excretion, and oocyst counts were undertaken. Results show that two of the Eimeria spp. affecting brown kiwi exhibit a peak in oocyst shedding between 03.00 and 07.00 with few or no oocysts shed between 08.00 and midnight. These results are not able to be explained by the current hypotheses theorising the evolutionary forces behind the development of this adaptive trait. Our findings increase the current understanding of the biology of the Eimeria spp. affecting brown kiwi and have important implications for the management of captive-reared kiwi, in particular for the accurate interpretation of faecal oocyst counts.
对野生褐几维鸟（褐几维）进行圈养繁殖，以帮助恢复这一数量不断减少的物种，这种做法已广泛开展。因此，大量免疫未成熟的几维鸟通常被安置在半圈养环境中，这有可能导致由多种艾美耳球虫引起的球虫病造成大量发病和死亡。此前的研究已描述了多种鸟类宿主的卵囊排泄昼夜变化情况。本研究的目的是描述褐几维卵囊排泄的昼夜变化情况。在一个圈养繁殖场所，通过视频监控从褐几维（n = 4）收集粪便以确定排泄时间，并进行卵囊计数。结果显示，影响褐几维的两种艾美耳球虫在03:00至07:00之间卵囊排泄量达到峰值，而在08:00至午夜之间很少或没有卵囊排出。目前关于这一适应性特征进化背后驱动因素的假设无法解释这些结果。我们的研究结果增进了目前对影响褐几维的艾美耳球虫生物学特性的了解，对圈养几维鸟的管理具有重要意义，特别是对于粪便卵囊计数的准确解读。
