Low Prevalence of Haemosporidian Parasites in Shorebirds

摘要

Althoughshorebirds(Charadriiformes:subordersScolopaciandCharadrii)facephysiologicalstressduringmigrationandexperienceawiderangeofvector-suitablehabitatsacrosstheirdistributions,haemosporidianparasites(orderHaemosporida)haverarelybeendetectedinthesespeciesworldwide.Weaskwhethershorebirdsremaininfection-freewhenwinteringinareaswhereparasitetransmissionoccursamonglandbirdspecies.BloodsampleswerecollectedatthreelocationsinArgentina:Patagonia,withanavianassemblagedominatedbyshorebirdspecies;MarChiquitaLagoon,ahigh-salinitywaterbasinwhereshorebirdandlandbirdspeciesco-occur;andinlandsitesinChacoandCordobaprovinces,wherehostassemblagesincludedmostlylandbirdspecies.Wescreened650samplesforthepresenceofhaemosporidianinfectionsandsequencedapartoftheparasitemitochondrialcytochromebgenetodetermineparasitelineages.Of342landbirds,91wereinfectedwithhaemosporidianparasites,comparedtoonlythreeof318shorebirds.Winteringlocationhadnoeffectontheprevalenceofhaemosporidianparasitesinshorebirds.Haemosporidianinfectionsarerareinshorebirdsevenwhentheseco-occurwithlandbirdspeciesininlandareassuitableforparasitetransmission.Thefewinfectionsdetectedinshorebirdsmightrepresentspilloverinfectionsfromlandbirds,astheparasitelineageswerealsofoundincommonlandbirdspecies.Wesuggestthatshorebirdsareresistanttohaemosporidianparasites,andeitherdonotbecomeinfectedorquicklyclearoccasionalinfections.