Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
Parasitology. 2022 Jul;149(8):1119-1128. doi: 10.1017/S003118202200066X. Epub 2022 May 16.
Wild birds are hosts of from as early on as the nesting stage when constrained to their nests. However, the environmental factors which determine the abundance and composition of species within each bird nest are still understudied. We sampled from Eurasian blue tit () nests found in 2 types of forests located in southern Spain. Firstly, we monitored the abundance of species in bird nests from a dry Pyrenean oak deciduous forest and a humid mixed forest comprising Pyrenean and Holm oaks throughout 2 consecutive years. During the 3rd year, we performed a cross-fostering experiment between synchronous nests to differentiate the role of rearing environment conditions from that of the genetically determined or maternally transmitted cues released by nestlings from each forest. We found 147 female from 5 different species in the birds' nests. The abundance of was higher in the dry forest than in the humid forest. abundance, species richness and prevalence were greater when the nestlings were hatched later in the season. The same pattern was observed in the cross-fostering experiment, but we did not find evidence that nestling's features determined by the forest of origin had any effect on the collected. These results support the notion that habitat type has a strong influence on the affecting birds in their nests, while some life history traits of birds, such as the timing of reproduction, also influence abundance and species composition.
野生鸟类从筑巢阶段开始就成为寄生虫的宿主。然而，决定每个鸟巢中寄生虫物种丰度和组成的环境因素仍未得到充分研究。我们从位于西班牙南部的两种森林中采集了欧亚山雀（）巢中的寄生虫样本。首先，我们连续两年监测了干旱比利牛斯山落叶松林和包含比利牛斯山和霍姆山的湿润混合林的鸟巢中寄生虫物种的丰度。在第三年，我们在同步巢之间进行了交叉寄养实验，以区分饲养环境条件的作用与每个森林中巢幼鸟释放的遗传决定或母传线索的作用。我们在鸟类的巢中发现了 147 只来自 5 个不同物种的雌性寄生虫。在干旱森林中寄生虫的丰度高于湿润森林。当雏鸟在季节后期孵化时，寄生虫的丰度、物种丰富度和流行率更高。在交叉寄养实验中也观察到了相同的模式，但我们没有证据表明巢幼鸟的特征取决于其起源森林，对收集的寄生虫没有影响。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即栖息地类型对影响鸟类巢中的寄生虫有很强的影响，而鸟类的一些生活史特征，如繁殖时间，也会影响寄生虫的丰度和物种组成。
