Kwasnoski Laura, Brown Jordan, Taylor Jessica, Watson Jesse L, Oleyar Dave, Ellis Vincenzo A
Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Dover, DE, USA.
Parasitol Res. 2025 Jun 9;124(6):60. doi: 10.1007/s00436-025-08509-w.
Parasite communities vary among host species and across space. However, little is known about differences in parasite communities between geographically and genetically distinct populations of the same host species. American kestrels (Falco sparverius) are small falcons with regionally distinct genetic populations across North America. We sampled kestrels from Delaware and Utah for avian haemosporidian parasites (genera: Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and Leucocytozoon) and used molecular barcoding of the parasite cytochrome b gene (cyt b) to quantify parasite genetic lineage diversity. We identified four lineages of Haemoproteus parasites and one Leucocytozoon lineage infecting kestrels. A comparison with previous studies suggests that most of these lineages are largely restricted to kestrels. We found similar infection prevalence and lineage composition between the sites. All kestrels sampled in Utah were adults (i.e., sampled after hatch year), but in Delaware, we found adult birds had a higher infection prevalence than juveniles (i.e., hatch-year birds). Despite harboring largely the same parasite lineages, kestrels are unlikely to disperse between Utah and Delaware. The similarity in parasite lineages in the two kestrel populations could be due to a number of factors including broadly distributed vector species (of which little is known), movement of alternative and undetected host species, or transmission during migration or on overwintering grounds. Alternatively, the cyt b gene might not capture recent genetic differentiation among the parasites. Future studies should explore these various possibilities to understand the mechanisms underpinning parasite distributions across genetically structured host populations.
寄生虫群落因宿主物种和空间位置而异。然而，对于同一宿主物种在地理和遗传上不同的种群之间寄生虫群落的差异，我们却知之甚少。美洲隼（Falco sparverius）是一种小型隼，在北美各地有区域遗传差异明显的种群。我们从特拉华州和犹他州采集了美洲隼样本，检测其禽血孢子虫寄生虫（属：血变原虫属、疟原虫属和白细胞虫属），并利用寄生虫细胞色素b基因（cyt b）的分子条形码技术来量化寄生虫遗传谱系多样性。我们鉴定出感染美洲隼的四种血变原虫谱系和一种白细胞虫谱系。与之前的研究比较表明，这些谱系大多主要局限于美洲隼。我们发现两个地点的感染率和谱系组成相似。在犹他州采集的所有美洲隼样本都是成年鸟（即孵化年后采集），但在特拉华州，我们发现成年鸟的感染率高于幼鸟（即当年孵化的鸟）。尽管携带大致相同的寄生虫谱系，但美洲隼不太可能在犹他州和特拉华州之间扩散。两个美洲隼种群中寄生虫谱系的相似性可能是由于多种因素造成的，包括广泛分布的媒介物种（对此了解甚少）、替代宿主和未检测到的宿主物种的移动，或者在迁徙或越冬地的传播。另外，细胞色素b基因可能无法捕捉到寄生虫最近的遗传分化。未来的研究应该探索这些各种可能性，以了解支撑寄生虫在遗传结构宿主种群中分布的机制。
