RT Journal Article
T1 Prevalence and diversity of Plasmodium and Haemoproteusparasites in the globally-threatened Aquatic WarblerAcrocephalus paludicola
A1 Neto, Julio Manuel
A1 Pérez Rodríguez, Antón David
A1 Haase, Martín
A1 Flade, Martin
A1 Bensch, Staffan
AB The diversity and prevalence of malaria parasites of the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus were determined in the globally-threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola. Birds were sampled during migration in Portugal and at the wintering quarters in Senegal and parasites were detected using molecular methods. Only three generalist parasite lineages (Plasmodium) were found. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of parasites between sexes in Europe, but adults had higher prevalence than first-year birds, and birds in Europe had higher prevalence than those captured in Africa. When comparing with other Acrocephalus species and taking sample size into account, Aquatic Warblers had the lowest prevalence and, together with another threatened species, the Seychelles Warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis, the lowest diversity of malaria parasites. We hypothesize that the low diversity of parasites and absence of specialist lineages of Aquatic Warblers are caused by its small population size and fragmented distribution. Furthermore, Aquatic Warblers’ extreme habitat specialization may decrease their exposure to malaria parasites, but other explanations such as high mortality (which would constraint the sampling of infected birds) or, in contrast, very efficient immunological system in clearing the infections cannot be ruled out. This study contributes to explain variation in prevalence and diversity of malaria parasites among hosts.
PB Cambridge University Press
SN 0031-1820, ESSN: 1469-8161
YR 2015
FD 2015-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23494
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23494
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC)
NO Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Lisboa)
NO German Ornithological Society (Wilhelmshaven, Germany)(DO-G)
NO Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (London, UK)
NO CMS Secretariat and Schmidt-Felsche-Foundation (Bonn, Germany)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 10 abr 2025