Cross-species infection of blood parasites between resident and migratory songbirds in Africa
(2002) In Molecular Ecology 11(8). p.1545-1554- Abstract
- We studied the phylogeny of avian haemosporidian parasites, Haemoproteus and Plasmodium, in a number of African resident and European migratory songbird species sampled during spring and autumn in northern Nigeria. The phylogeny of the parasites was constructed through sequencing part of their mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. We found eight parasite lineages, five Haemoproteus and three Plasmodium, infecting multiple host species. Thus, 44% of the 18 haemospiridian lineages found in this study were detected in more than one host species, indicating that host sharing is a more common feature than previously thought. Furthermore, one of the Plasmodium lineages infected species from different host families, Sylviidae and Ploceidae, expressing... (More)
- We studied the phylogeny of avian haemosporidian parasites, Haemoproteus and Plasmodium, in a number of African resident and European migratory songbird species sampled during spring and autumn in northern Nigeria. The phylogeny of the parasites was constructed through sequencing part of their mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. We found eight parasite lineages, five Haemoproteus and three Plasmodium, infecting multiple host species. Thus, 44% of the 18 haemospiridian lineages found in this study were detected in more than one host species, indicating that host sharing is a more common feature than previously thought. Furthermore, one of the Plasmodium lineages infected species from different host families, Sylviidae and Ploceidae, expressing exceptionally large host range. We mapped transmission events, e.g. the occurrence of the parasite lineages in resident bird species in Europe or Africa, onto a phylogenetic tree. This yielded three clades, two Plasmodium and one Haemoproteus, in which transmission seems to occur solely in Africa. One Plasmodium clade showed European transmission, whereas the remaining two Haemoproteus clades contained mixes of lineages of African, European or unknown transmission. The mix of areas of transmission in several branches of the phylogenetic tree suggests that transmission of haemosporidian parasites to songbirds has arisen repeatedly in Africa and Europe. Blood parasites could be viewed as a cost of migration, as migratory species in several cases were infected with parasite lineages from African resident species. This cost of migration could have considerable impact on the evolution of migration and patterns of winter distribution in migrating birds. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/138319
- author
- Waldenström, Jonas LU ; Bensch, Staffan LU ; Kiboi, Samuel LU ; Hasselquist, Dennis LU and Ottosson, Ulf LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2002
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Molecular Ecology
- volume
- 11
- issue
- 8
- pages
- 1545 - 1554
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:12144673
- wos:000177086900026
- scopus:0035993776
- ISSN
- 0962-1083
- DOI
- 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2002.01523.x
- project
- Malaria in birds
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7271b760-00d4-4577-98c6-60c0b9795bca (old id 138319)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:26:24
- date last changed
- 2022-04-21 07:26:58
@article{7271b760-00d4-4577-98c6-60c0b9795bca,
abstract = {{We studied the phylogeny of avian haemosporidian parasites, Haemoproteus and Plasmodium, in a number of African resident and European migratory songbird species sampled during spring and autumn in northern Nigeria. The phylogeny of the parasites was constructed through sequencing part of their mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. We found eight parasite lineages, five Haemoproteus and three Plasmodium, infecting multiple host species. Thus, 44% of the 18 haemospiridian lineages found in this study were detected in more than one host species, indicating that host sharing is a more common feature than previously thought. Furthermore, one of the Plasmodium lineages infected species from different host families, Sylviidae and Ploceidae, expressing exceptionally large host range. We mapped transmission events, e.g. the occurrence of the parasite lineages in resident bird species in Europe or Africa, onto a phylogenetic tree. This yielded three clades, two Plasmodium and one Haemoproteus, in which transmission seems to occur solely in Africa. One Plasmodium clade showed European transmission, whereas the remaining two Haemoproteus clades contained mixes of lineages of African, European or unknown transmission. The mix of areas of transmission in several branches of the phylogenetic tree suggests that transmission of haemosporidian parasites to songbirds has arisen repeatedly in Africa and Europe. Blood parasites could be viewed as a cost of migration, as migratory species in several cases were infected with parasite lineages from African resident species. This cost of migration could have considerable impact on the evolution of migration and patterns of winter distribution in migrating birds.}},
author = {{Waldenström, Jonas and Bensch, Staffan and Kiboi, Samuel and Hasselquist, Dennis and Ottosson, Ulf}},
issn = {{0962-1083}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{8}},
pages = {{1545--1554}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Molecular Ecology}},
title = {{Cross-species infection of blood parasites between resident and migratory songbirds in Africa}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-294X.2002.01523.x}},
doi = {{10.1046/j.1365-294X.2002.01523.x}},
volume = {{11}},
year = {{2002}},
}