Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
National Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Parasit Vectors. 2021 Mar 8;14(1):145. doi: 10.1186/s13071-021-04612-w.
The prevalence of avian haemosporidian parasites and the factors influencing infection in the Colorado Rocky Mountains are largely unknown. With climate change expected to promote the expansion of vector and avian blood parasite distributions, baseline knowledge and continued monitoring of the prevalence and diversity of these parasites is needed.
Using an occupancy modeling framework, we conducted a survey of haemosporidian parasite species infecting an avian community in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in order to estimate the prevalence and diversity of blood parasites and to investigate species-level and individual-level characteristics that may influence infection.
We estimated the prevalence and diversity of avian Haemosporidia across 24 bird species, detecting 39 parasite haplotypes. We found that open-cup nesters have higher Haemoproteus prevalence than cavity or ground nesters. Additionally, we found that male Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-crowned Sparrows, and Wilson's Warblers have higher Haemoproteus prevalence compared to other host species. Plasmodium prevalence was relatively low (5%), consistent with the idea that competent vectors may be rare at high altitudes.
Our study presents baseline knowledge of haemosporidian parasite presence, prevalence, and diversity among avian species in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and adds to our knowledge of host-parasite relationships of blood parasites and their avian hosts.
科罗拉多落矶山脉地区禽血孢子虫寄生虫的流行情况以及影响感染的因素在很大程度上尚未可知。随着气候变化预计会促进病媒和禽血寄生虫分布范围的扩大，需要了解这些寄生虫的流行情况和多样性的基线知识，并进行持续监测。
我们采用了一种占有模型框架，对科罗拉多落矶山脉地区的鸟类群落中感染禽血寄生虫的物种进行了调查，以便估计血液寄生虫的流行情况和多样性，并研究可能影响感染的种间和个体特征。
我们估计了 24 种鸟类的禽 Haemosporidia 流行率和多样性，检测到 39 种寄生虫单倍型。我们发现，敞口巢鸟的 Haemoproteus 流行率高于洞穴巢或地面巢鸟。此外，我们发现雄性红冠金翅雀、白头鹀和威尔逊氏莺的 Haemoproteus 流行率高于其他宿主物种。疟原虫的流行率相对较低（5%），这与在高海拔地区可能缺乏有效病媒的观点一致。
我们的研究提供了科罗拉多落矶山脉地区鸟类种间血液寄生虫存在、流行率和多样性的基线知识，并增加了我们对血液寄生虫及其鸟类宿主的宿主-寄生虫关系的了解。
