Common generalist mites do not transmit from foster parents to brood parasitic chicks

0534893 - ÚBO 2022 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Trnka, A. - Fenďa, P. - Požgayová, Milica - Procházka, Petr
Common generalist mites do not transmit from foster parents to brood parasitic chicks.
Journal of Zoology. Roč. 313, č. 3 (2021), s. 195-201. ISSN 0952-8369. E-ISSN 1469-7998
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA17-12262S
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : Cuculus canorus * Acrocephalus arundinaceus * Ornithonyssus sylviarum * immunocompetence * chemical protection * brood parasitism * avian blood parasites * ectoparasites
OECD category: Zoology
Impact factor: 2.394, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jzo.12847

Interactions between avian brood parasites, their hosts and their parasites provide an ideal model system for studying coevolutionary processes across multiple hierarchical levels. Despite this, how brood parasitism affects the ecology and transmission of bird ectoparasites is not well known. Here, we examined the mite fauna of great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus nests successfully parasitized and unparasitized by the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus to find whether there is vertical transmission of northern fowl mites Ornithonyssus sylviarum, a generalist blood-feeding parasite of birds, through infected nests. Although there was no difference in the prevalence of mites between successfully parasitized and unparasitized nests, the former nests exhibited two times lower mite abundances than the latter nests. Importantly, none of the common cuckoo nestlings examined shortly before fledging carried mites, whereas the great reed warbler nestlings were infested in almost half of the contaminated nests. Thus, our results indicate that, despite their high dispersal abilities, northern fowl mites may be unable to survive or reproduce on the common cuckoo nestlings. Factors that can contribute to the observed patterns are discussed.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0313035