TY - JOUR
T1 - Specialist versus generalist parasites
T2 - the interactions between host diversity, environment and geographic barriers in avian malaria
AU - Doussang, Daniela
AU - Sallaberry-Pincheira, Nicole
AU - Cabanne, Gustavo S.
AU - Lijtmaer, Darío A.
AU - González-Acuña, Daniel
AU - Vianna, Juliana A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Australian Society for Parasitology
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - The specialist versus generalist strategies of hemoparasites in relation to their avian host, as well as environmental factors, can influence their prevalence, diversity and distribution. In this paper we investigated the influence of avian host species, as well as the environmental and geographical factors, on the strategies of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium hemoparasites. We determined prevalence and diversity by targeting their cytochrome b (Cytb) in a total of 2,590 passerine samples from 138 localities of Central and South America, and analysed biogeographic patterns and host-parasite relationships. We found a total prevalence of 23.2%. Haemoproteus presented a higher prevalence (15.3%) than Plasmodium (4.3%), as well as a higher diversity and host specificity. We determined that Plasmodium and Haemoproteus prevalences correlated positively with host diversity (Shannon index) and were significantly influenced by bird diversity, demonstrating a possible “amplification effect”. We found an effect of locality and the avian family for prevalences of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium. These results suggest that Haemoproteus is more specialist than Plasmodium and could be mostly influenced by its avian host and the Andes Mountains.
AB - The specialist versus generalist strategies of hemoparasites in relation to their avian host, as well as environmental factors, can influence their prevalence, diversity and distribution. In this paper we investigated the influence of avian host species, as well as the environmental and geographical factors, on the strategies of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium hemoparasites. We determined prevalence and diversity by targeting their cytochrome b (Cytb) in a total of 2,590 passerine samples from 138 localities of Central and South America, and analysed biogeographic patterns and host-parasite relationships. We found a total prevalence of 23.2%. Haemoproteus presented a higher prevalence (15.3%) than Plasmodium (4.3%), as well as a higher diversity and host specificity. We determined that Plasmodium and Haemoproteus prevalences correlated positively with host diversity (Shannon index) and were significantly influenced by bird diversity, demonstrating a possible “amplification effect”. We found an effect of locality and the avian family for prevalences of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium. These results suggest that Haemoproteus is more specialist than Plasmodium and could be mostly influenced by its avian host and the Andes Mountains.
KW - Amplification effect
KW - Avian malaria
KW - Dilution effect
KW - Haemoproteus
KW - Haemosporidian parasites
KW - Plasmodium
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108504496&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.04.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.04.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 34044005
AN - SCOPUS:85108504496
VL - 51
SP - 899
EP - 911
JO - International Journal for Parasitology
JF - International Journal for Parasitology
SN - 0020-7519
IS - 11
ER -