Host specificity and repeatability of haemosporidian infection parameters—potential consequences when testing host species-level hypotheses
Emmenegger, Tamara LU
and Bensch, Staffan
LU
(2026)
In Journal of Ornithology
- Abstract
In their seminal hypothesis, Hamilton and Zuk proposed parasites to drive host sexual selection and predicted infections to correlate with ornamentation. Since then, a plethora of studies has explored how parasite occurrence relates to host traits, though the underlying assumption that parasite infection parameters are host-specific traits has rarely been evaluated. We used a global database (MalAvi) on avian haemosporidian parasites to 1) derive parasite prevalence and diversity estimates, 2) quantify how host species-specific these two infection parameters are, 3) test if our parameter estimates correlate with historical values derived by light microscopy and bird brightness scores, and 4) discuss how our findings affect tests of... (More)
In their seminal hypothesis, Hamilton and Zuk proposed parasites to drive host sexual selection and predicted infections to correlate with ornamentation. Since then, a plethora of studies has explored how parasite occurrence relates to host traits, though the underlying assumption that parasite infection parameters are host-specific traits has rarely been evaluated. We used a global database (MalAvi) on avian haemosporidian parasites to 1) derive parasite prevalence and diversity estimates, 2) quantify how host species-specific these two infection parameters are, 3) test if our parameter estimates correlate with historical values derived by light microscopy and bird brightness scores, and 4) discuss how our findings affect tests of species-level hypotheses like the Hamilton–Zuk hypothesis. We found only moderate repeatability in parasite prevalence and lineage diversity when estimated from independent study locations. Nevertheless, prevalence values assessed by PCR in MalAvi database studies significantly correlated with historical prevalence estimates assessed by microscopy. Compared to the historical microscopy-derived estimates, prevalence and diversity estimated from MalAvi were not significantly related to bird brightness scores. Based on our results, we conclude that other factors than those related to host species might shape most of the variation in haemosporidian infection parameters, a fact that should be considered when testing species-level hypotheses in an interspecific framework.
(Less)
- author
- Emmenegger, Tamara
LU
and Bensch, Staffan
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-03-14
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- Diversity, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, Plasmodium, Prevalence, Sexual selection
- in
- Journal of Ornithology
- publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105033287571
- ISSN
- 2193-7192
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10336-026-02386-5
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- .
- id
- 70d91474-53af-42cd-885c-d27f667033db
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-18 15:19:37
- date last changed
- 2026-05-20 03:23:59
@article{70d91474-53af-42cd-885c-d27f667033db,
abstract = {{<p>In their seminal hypothesis, Hamilton and Zuk proposed parasites to drive host sexual selection and predicted infections to correlate with ornamentation. Since then, a plethora of studies has explored how parasite occurrence relates to host traits, though the underlying assumption that parasite infection parameters are host-specific traits has rarely been evaluated. We used a global database (MalAvi) on avian haemosporidian parasites to 1) derive parasite prevalence and diversity estimates, 2) quantify how host species-specific these two infection parameters are, 3) test if our parameter estimates correlate with historical values derived by light microscopy and bird brightness scores, and 4) discuss how our findings affect tests of species-level hypotheses like the Hamilton–Zuk hypothesis. We found only moderate repeatability in parasite prevalence and lineage diversity when estimated from independent study locations. Nevertheless, prevalence values assessed by PCR in MalAvi database studies significantly correlated with historical prevalence estimates assessed by microscopy. Compared to the historical microscopy-derived estimates, prevalence and diversity estimated from MalAvi were not significantly related to bird brightness scores. Based on our results, we conclude that other factors than those related to host species might shape most of the variation in haemosporidian infection parameters, a fact that should be considered when testing species-level hypotheses in an interspecific framework.</p>}},
author = {{Emmenegger, Tamara and Bensch, Staffan}},
issn = {{2193-7192}},
keywords = {{Diversity; Haemoproteus; Leucocytozoon; Plasmodium; Prevalence; Sexual selection}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
publisher = {{Springer Science and Business Media B.V.}},
series = {{Journal of Ornithology}},
title = {{Host specificity and repeatability of haemosporidian infection parameters—potential consequences when testing host species-level hypotheses}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10336-026-02386-5}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10336-026-02386-5}},
year = {{2026}},
}