Migratory birds have a distinct haemosporidian community and are temporally decoupled from vector abundance at a stopover site.

ABSTRACT: Migratory animals likely play an important role in the geographic spread of parasites. In fact, a common assumption is that parasites are potentially transmitted by migratory animals at temporary stopover sites along migratory routes, yet very few studies have assessed whether transmission at stopover sites can or does occur. We investigated the potential for a group of vector-transmitted parasites, the avian haemosporidians, to be transmitted during migratory stopover periods at Rushton Woods Preserve in Pennsylvania, USA. Using an analysis of 1454 sampled avian hosts, we found that while a core group of abundant haemosporidians was shared between local breeding birds and passing migrants, the parasite community of migratory birds at Rushton was distinct from that of local breeding birds

SUBMITTER: Galen SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11893997 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature