Drivers of the Ectoparasite Community and Co-Infection Patterns in Rural and Urban Burrowing Owls.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization creates new ecological conditions that can affect biodiversity at all levels, including the diversity and prevalence of parasites of species that may occupy these environments. However, few studies have compared bird-ectoparasite interactions between urban and rural individuals. Here, we analyze the ectoparasite community and co-infection patterns of urban and rural burrowing owls, Athene cunicularia, to assess the influence of host traits (i.e., sex, age, and weight), and environmental factors (i.e., number of conspecifics per nest, habitat type and aridity) on its composition. Ectoparasites of burrowing owls included two lice, one flea, and one mite. The overall prevalence for mites, lice and fleas was 1.75%, 8.76% and 3.50%, respectively. A clear pattern of co-infect

SUBMITTER: Saez-Ventura A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9405203 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature