Sedentary songbirds maintain higher prevalence of haemosporidian parasite infections than migratory conspecifics during seasonal sympatry.

ABSTRACT: Long-distance migrations influence the physiology, behavior, and fitness of migratory animals throughout their annual cycles, and fundamentally alter their interactions with parasites. Several hypotheses relating migratory behavior to the likelihood of parasitism have entered the literature, making conflicting, testable predictions. To assess how migratory behavior of hosts is associated with parasitism, we compared haemosporidian parasite infections between two closely related populations of a common North American sparrow, the dark-eyed junco, that co-occur in shared habitats during the non-breeding season. One population is sedentary and winters and breeds in the Appalachian Mountains. The other population is migratory and is found in seasonal sympatry with the sedentary population from

SUBMITTER: Slowinski SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6104930 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature