An inverse latitudinal gradient in infection probability and phylogenetic diversity for Leucocytozoon blood parasites in New World birds.
Alan Fecchio,Jeffrey A. Bell,Mariane Bosholn,Jefferson A. Vaughan,Vasyl V. Tkach,Holly L. Lutz,Holly L. Lutz,Víctor R. Cueto,Cristian A. Gorosito,Daniel González-Acuña,Chad Stromlund,Danielle Kay Kvasager,Kiba J. M. Comiche,Karin Kirchgatter,João Batista de Pinho,Jacob S. Berv,Marina Anciães,Carla Suertegaray Fontana,Kristof Zyskowski,Sidnei Sampaio,Janice H. Dispoto,Spencer C. Galen,Jason D. Weckstein,Jason D. Weckstein,Nicholas J. Clark +24 more
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TLDR
The results show that integrating host traits, host ancestry, bioclimatic data, and microhabitat characteristics that are important for vector reproduction are imperative to understand and predict infection prevalence and diversity of vector-transmitted parasites.Abstract:
Geographic variation in environmental conditions as well as host traits that promote parasite transmission may impact infection rates and community assembly of vector-transmitted parasites. Identifying the ecological, environmental and historical determinants of parasite distributions and diversity is therefore necessary to understand disease outbreaks under changing environments. Here, we identified the predictors and contributions of infection probability and phylogenetic diversity of Leucocytozoon (an avian blood parasite) at site and species levels across the New World. To explore spatial patterns in infection probability and lineage diversity for Leucocytozoon parasites, we surveyed 69 bird communities from Alaska to Patagonia. Using phylogenetic Bayesian hierarchical models and high-resolution satellite remote-sensing data, we determined the relative influence of climate, landscape, geography and host phylogeny on regional parasite community assembly. Infection rates and parasite diversity exhibited considerable variation across regions in the Americas. In opposition to the latitudinal gradient hypothesis, both the diversity and prevalence of Leucocytozoon parasites decreased towards the equator. Host relatedness and traits known to promote vector exposure neither predicted infection probability nor parasite diversity. Instead, the probability of a bird being infected with Leucocytozoon increased with increasing vegetation cover (NDVI) and moisture levels (NDWI), whereas the diversity of parasite lineages decreased with increasing NDVI. Infection rates and parasite diversity also tended to be higher in cooler regions and higher latitudes. Whereas temperature partially constrains Leucocytozoon diversity and infection rates, landscape features, such as vegetation cover and water body availability, play a significant role in modulating the probability of a bird being infected. This suggests that, for Leucocytozoon, the barriers to host shifting and parasite host range expansion are jointly determined by environmental filtering and landscape, but not by host phylogeny. Our results show that integrating host traits, host ancestry, bioclimatic data and microhabitat characteristics that are important for vector reproduction are imperative to understand and predict infection prevalence and diversity of vector-transmitted parasites. Unlike other vector-transmitted diseases, our results show that Leucocytozoon diversity and prevalence will likely decrease with warming temperatures.read more
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Evolutionary ecology, taxonomy, and systematics of avian malaria and related parasites
TL;DR: How these parasites might spread across regions due to global climate change and the importance of avian migratory behavior in parasite dispersion and subsequent diversification are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global drivers of avian haemosporidian infections vary across zoogeographical regions
Alan Fecchio,Nicholas J. Clark,Jeffrey A. Bell,Heather R. Skeen,Heather R. Skeen,Holly L. Lutz,Holly L. Lutz,Gabriel Massaccesi De La Torre,Jefferson A. Vaughan,Vasyl V. Tkach,Fabio Schunck,Francisco C. Ferreira,Érika Martins Braga,Camile Lugarini,Wanyoike Wamiti,Janice H. Dispoto,Spencer C. Galen,Karin Kirchgatter,M. Cecilia Sagario,Víctor R. Cueto,Daniel González-Acuña,Mizue Inumaru,Yukita Sato,Yvonne R. Schumm,Petra Quillfeldt,Irene Pellegrino,Guha Dharmarajan,Pooja Gupta,V. V. Robin,Arif Ciloglu,Alparslan Yildirim,Xi Huang,Leonardo Chapa-Vargas,Paulina Álvarez-Mendizábal,Diego Santiago-Alarcon,Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski,Olof Hellgren,Gary Voelker,Robert E. Ricklefs,Shannon J. Hackett,Michael D. Collins,Jason D. Weckstein,Jason D. Weckstein,Konstans Wells +43 more
TL;DR: In this article, a hierarchical global analysis of haemosporidian infection data from 53,669 individual birds representing 2,445 species world-wide was performed to disentangle potential landscape, climatic and biotic drivers of infection probability.
Journal ArticleDOI
Migrant birds disperse haemosporidian parasites and affect their transmission in avian communities
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used Bayesian multi-level models to test whether migrants can contribute to parasite dispersal and visiting migrants are present in regions with lower Plasmodium prevalence.
Journal ArticleDOI
Influence of land use and host species on parasite richness, prevalence and co-infection patterns.
Silvio Alan Gonçalves Bonfim Reis,Maria Cecília Santos Cavalcante Melo,Rita Covas,Claire Doutrelant,Humberto de Jesus Caldas Pereira,R. F. de Lima,C. Loiseau +6 more
TL;DR: Overall, Plasmodium had the highest richness but the lowest prevalence, while Leucocytozoon diversity was the lowest despite having the highest prevalence, which likely reflects the ecological requirements of their vectors: mosquitoes and black flies.
Journal ArticleDOI
Large-scale disease patterns explained by climatic seasonality and host traits.
TL;DR: It is shown that environmental variables likely to synchronize bird and vector abundance are the key factors dictating infection risk for birds, and considering evolutionary strategies and factors influencing spatial overlap between hosts and vectors is crucial for understanding worldwide patterns of disease transmission success.
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