Low intensity blood parasite infections do not reduce the aerobic performance of migratory birds
Hahn, Steffen ; Bauer, Silke ; Dimitrov, Dimitar ; Emmenegger, Tamara LU
; Ivanova, Karina
LU
; Zehtindjiev, Pavel
and Buttemer, William A.
(2018)
In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
285(1871).
- Abstract
Blood parasites (Haemosporidia) are thought to impair the flight performance of infected animals, and therefore, infected birds are expected to differ from their non-infected counterparts in migratory capacity. Since haemosporidians invade host erythrocytes, it is commonly assumed that infected individuals will have compromised aerobic capacity, but this has not been examined in free-living birds. We tested if haemosporidian infections affect aerobic performance by examining metabolic rates and exercise endurance in migratory great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) experimentally treated with Plasmodium relictum pGRW04 and in naturally infected wild birds over consecutive life-history stages. We found no effect of acute or... (More)
Blood parasites (Haemosporidia) are thought to impair the flight performance of infected animals, and therefore, infected birds are expected to differ from their non-infected counterparts in migratory capacity. Since haemosporidians invade host erythrocytes, it is commonly assumed that infected individuals will have compromised aerobic capacity, but this has not been examined in free-living birds. We tested if haemosporidian infections affect aerobic performance by examining metabolic rates and exercise endurance in migratory great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) experimentally treated with Plasmodium relictum pGRW04 and in naturally infected wild birds over consecutive life-history stages. We found no effect of acute or chronic infections on resting metabolic rate, maximum metabolic rate or exercise endurance in either experimentally treated or free-living birds. Oxygen consumption rates during rest and while undergoing maximum exercise as well as exercise endurance increased from breeding to migration stages in both infected and non-infected birds. Importantly, phenotypic changes associated with preparation for migration were similarly unaffected by parasitaemia. Consequently, migratory birds experiencing parasitaemia levels typical of chronic infection do not differ in migratory capacity from their uninfected counterparts. Thus, if infected hosts differ from uninfected conspecifics in migration phenology, other mechanisms besides aerobic capacity should be considered.
(Less)
- author
- Hahn, Steffen
; Bauer, Silke
; Dimitrov, Dimitar
; Emmenegger, Tamara
LU
; Ivanova, Karina
LU
; Zehtindjiev, Pavel
and Buttemer, William A.
- publishing date
- 2018-01-31
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- Avian malaria, Disease, Metabolic rate, Migration, Oxygen consumption, Pathogen
- in
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 285
- issue
- 1871
- article number
- 20172307
- pages
- 8 pages
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85041543038
- pmid:29386365
- ISSN
- 0962-8452
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2017.2307
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A_160265) to S.B., S.H. and by the Bulgarian Science Foundation (1O01/6) to P.Z. We thank S. Peev, M. Marinov for assistance in the field. This study is report N62 of the Biological Experimental Station ‘Kalimok’. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Authors.
- id
- 777578ec-b1d6-48b7-a401-970c0d0b2dac
- date added to LUP
- 2021-10-29 11:04:43
- date last changed
- 2024-06-16 22:53:58
@article{777578ec-b1d6-48b7-a401-970c0d0b2dac,
abstract = {{<p>Blood parasites (Haemosporidia) are thought to impair the flight performance of infected animals, and therefore, infected birds are expected to differ from their non-infected counterparts in migratory capacity. Since haemosporidians invade host erythrocytes, it is commonly assumed that infected individuals will have compromised aerobic capacity, but this has not been examined in free-living birds. We tested if haemosporidian infections affect aerobic performance by examining metabolic rates and exercise endurance in migratory great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) experimentally treated with Plasmodium relictum pGRW04 and in naturally infected wild birds over consecutive life-history stages. We found no effect of acute or chronic infections on resting metabolic rate, maximum metabolic rate or exercise endurance in either experimentally treated or free-living birds. Oxygen consumption rates during rest and while undergoing maximum exercise as well as exercise endurance increased from breeding to migration stages in both infected and non-infected birds. Importantly, phenotypic changes associated with preparation for migration were similarly unaffected by parasitaemia. Consequently, migratory birds experiencing parasitaemia levels typical of chronic infection do not differ in migratory capacity from their uninfected counterparts. Thus, if infected hosts differ from uninfected conspecifics in migration phenology, other mechanisms besides aerobic capacity should be considered.</p>}},
author = {{Hahn, Steffen and Bauer, Silke and Dimitrov, Dimitar and Emmenegger, Tamara and Ivanova, Karina and Zehtindjiev, Pavel and Buttemer, William A.}},
issn = {{0962-8452}},
keywords = {{Avian malaria; Disease; Metabolic rate; Migration; Oxygen consumption; Pathogen}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{1871}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Low intensity blood parasite infections do not reduce the aerobic performance of migratory birds}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2307}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2017.2307}},
volume = {{285}},
year = {{2018}},
}