Parasite prevalence corresponds to host life history in a diverse assemblage of afrotropical birds and haemosporidian parasites.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lutz HL
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4390322 | biostudies-literature | 2015
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Parasite prevalence corresponds to host life history in a diverse assemblage of afrotropical birds and haemosporidian parasites.
Lutz Holly L HL Hochachka Wesley M WM Engel Joshua I JI Bell Jeffrey A JA Tkach Vasyl V VV Bates John M JM Hackett Shannon J SJ Weckstein Jason D JD
PloS one 20150408 4
Avian host life history traits have been hypothesized to predict rates of infection by haemosporidian parasites. Using molecular techniques, we tested this hypothesis for parasites from three haemosporidian genera (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon) collected from a diverse sampling of birds in northern Malawi. We found that host life history traits were significantly associated with parasitism rates by all three parasite genera. Nest type and nest location predicted infection probabil ...[more]
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