Survey of haemosporidian parasite infections in an endangered high alpine bird.

ABSTRACT: The Brown-capped Rosy-Finch is an endangered high alpine specialist that breeds on cliffs in the Rocky Mountains of North America. We know little about the parasites that infect these birds but filling this knowledge gap is important for understanding their population decline. The aim of this study was to survey haemosporidian parasite infections in Brown-capped Rosy-Finches. We sampled 104 Brown-capped Rosy-Finches during their breeding season at six sampling sites spanning the Colorado Rocky Mountains where they are nearly endemic. We used nested PCR methods to screen birds for parasite infections, and Sanger sequencing data were used to identify parasite lineages. Four of the sampling sites had birds with infections. Females were more often infected than males (prevalence = 15.6% and 9.

SUBMITTER: Theodosopoulos AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9926756 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature