The Wildlife Toxicology Laboratory, Texas Tech University, Box 43290, Lubbock, Texas, 79409-3290.
J Parasitol. 2023 May 1;109(3):244-251. doi: 10.1645/22-119.
Grassland birds have been declining substantially for the past several years. Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation as well as climate change are all thought to be the main drivers of the decline. However, as the declines continue to accelerate, it is becoming imperative to examine other factors that may contribute to population fluctuations. The nematodes Oxyspirura petrowi, Aulonocephalus pennula, and Physaloptera sp. are commonly found infecting northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), a game species of economic importance, and all 3 nematodes use insects as an intermediate host. Here we used polymerase chain reaction techniques to determine the occurrence of the 3 nematodes in 7 insect orders to uncover epidemiological patterns of the greatest potential for transmission to northern bobwhite. Insects were collected from March through September using sweep nets and pitfall traps. An R × C chi-squared test with Monte Carlo simulation was used to determine differences in the occurrence of the parasites across taxa and time. The results of the statistical analysis showed the nematodes are predominantly found in the order Orthoptera, and A. pennula and Physaloptera sp. showed epidemiological patterns in insects. However, no such pattern was observed with O. petrowi. An explanation for the lack of epidemiological pattern in O. petrowi is proposed and the diversity of known insect hosts of the 3 nematodes is increased.
草原鸟类在过去几年中大量减少。栖息地丧失、退化和破碎化以及气候变化被认为是减少的主要驱动因素。然而，随着减少的继续加速，检查可能导致种群波动的其他因素变得势在必行。Oxyspirura petrowi、Aulonocephalus pennula 和 Physaloptera sp. 等线虫通常感染北方鹌鹑（Colinus virginianus），这是一种具有经济重要性的游戏物种，所有 3 种线虫都使用昆虫作为中间宿主。在这里，我们使用聚合酶链反应技术来确定这 3 种线虫在 7 个昆虫目中的发生情况，以揭示最有可能传播给北方鹌鹑的流行病学模式。使用捕虫网和陷阱从 3 月到 9 月收集昆虫。使用 R × C 卡方检验和蒙特卡罗模拟来确定寄生虫在分类群和时间上的发生差异。统计分析的结果表明，线虫主要存在于直翅目，A. pennula 和 Physaloptera sp. 在昆虫中有流行病学模式。然而，O. petrowi 没有观察到这种模式。提出了对 O. petrowi 缺乏流行病学模式的解释，并增加了已知 3 种线虫的昆虫宿主的多样性。
