@article {10448, title = {Nest ecology of blood parasites in the European roller and its ectoparasitic carnid fly}, journal = {Experimental Parasitology}, volume = {165}, year = {2016}, pages = {71-80}, abstract = {

Haemosporidian parasites are considered the most important vector-borne parasites. However, vector identity and ecology is unknown for most such hostevectoreparasite systems. In this study, we employ microscopic and molecular analyses to examine haemosporidian prevalence in a migratory, cavitynesting bird, European roller Coracias garrulus, and its nidicolous blood-feeding ectoparasite Carnus hemapterus. This system is unique in that the ectoparasite is confined to a near-closed environment, in contrast to the free-wandering system of haematophagous dipterans such as mosquitoes. Blood film analysis confirms previous works in that Haemoproteus parasites are widely prevalent in adult rollers and belong to a single species, Haemoproteus coraciae. Leucocytozoon sp. and Trypanosoma sp. also are detected in adult rollers at low intensities with this technique. By means of molecular analysis, we report for the first time Plasmodium sp. presence in C. garrulus. Based on PCR results, Plasmodium parasites are relatively less prevalent than Haemoproteus parasites (20\% vs. 31\%) in rollers. In contrast, haemosporidian prevalences show the opposite trend for Carnus flies: Plasmodium sp. occurrence (62\%) clearly predominates over that of Haemoproteus sp. (5\%). A comparison between roller and Carnus samples reveals a significantly higher prevalence of Plasmodium sp. in Carnus samples. Insect survey and phylogenetic analysis suggest Culicoides flies as Haemoproteus sp. vectors, which appear to readily transmit the parasite in southern Spain. This study does not find support for Carnus flies to serve as biological or mechanical vectors of haemosporidians. In spite of this, nidicolous blood-feeding ectoparasites, such as carnid flies, appear as a suitable model for studies on the occurrence and temporal dynamics of avian haemosporidians such as Plasmodium sp. present at low intensities.

}, keywords = {Avian malaria, Carnus hemapterus, Nidicolous ectoparasite, s Coracias garrulus, Transmission ecology, Trypanosoma}, author = {Vaclav, Radovan and Bet{\'a}kov{\'a}, T and {\v S}van{\v c}arov{\'a}, P and P{\'e}rez-Serrano, J and Criado-Fornelio, {\'A} and {\v S}korvanov{\'a}, L and Valera, F.} } @article {10446, title = {Intra-specific variability in life-cycle synchronization of an ectoparasitic fly to its avian host}, journal = {Oikos}, volume = {122}, year = {2013}, pages = {274{\textendash}284}, abstract = {

The role of environmental and host-associated factors in synchronization of host\–parasite life-cycles is an important question of evolutionary ecology. Yet, only handsome of studies examined this question at the intraspecific level. Here we explore how host-associated traits, such as breeding phenology and host breeding habitat, can influence parasite phenology and co-occurrence at different spatial scales. We studied the system comprised of a generalist ectoparasitic fly Carnus hemapterus and one of its avian hosts, the European roller Coracias garrulus. Inter-annual variation in phenology was larger for parasites than hosts. Host predictability in terms of occurrence and phenological regularity was moderate, suggesting that this resource can be difficult to be tracked by the parasite. A large proportion of flies consistently emerged before the appearance of suitable host resources at both the nest and population level. Consequently, we revealed low and highly variable inter-annual host\–parasite synchronization rates. Nevertheless, we found that parasites from nests of early and progressively earlier breeding European rollers were more synchronized with their hosts than parasites from nests of late and progressively later breeding hosts, respectively. Temporal trends in host suitability and parasite emergence at the population scale suggest that other mechanisms, such as dispersal or exploitation of other host species, ensure parasites access to resources and counteract asynchrony with the host at the nest scale.

}, doi = {10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20374.x}, author = {Calero-Torralbo, M. A. and Vaclav, Radovan and Valera, F.} } @article {3599, title = {Ectoparasite load is linked to ontogeny and cell-mediated immunity in an avian host system with pronounced hatching asynchrony}, journal = {Biological Journal of the Linnean Society}, volume = {94}, number = {3}, year = {2008}, month = {July}, pages = {463-473}, type = {Article}, abstract = {Several contrasting hypotheses have been proposed to account for host age-biased parasite distribution, with some of them suggesting a key role of ectoparasites in the evolution and maintenance of weight hierarchies within broods. We examined parasite distribution among individual hosts across the whole period of host exposure to the parasite in a host system that shows distinct within-brood differences in age and age-related mortality. By contrast to previous hypotheses, we found that the abundance of a haematophagous, mobile ectoparasite Carnus haemapterus on nestling European rollers (Coracias garrulus) was highest approximately during the mid-nestling stage of their host, coinciding with the inflection point of the host growth phase. Parasite load increased neither with absolute resource availability (i.e. body size), nor body condition index. By contrast to previous evidence, higher parasite load under natural conditions was associated with a stronger cell-mediated immune response. However, this association was moderated by low parasite densities, as well as a better brood body condition index. Overall, although we revealed remarkable host ontogenetic effects on parasite distribution, the present study suggests that a highly mobile ectoparasite generally prefers healthier hosts. We propose that, in host systems with a marked asynchrony of hatching and background mortality within the brood, parasites favour persistence rather than nutritional attractiveness of the host. (C) 2008 The Linnean Society of London. }, keywords = {Carnus hemapterus, Europe}, isbn = {0024-4066}, url = {://ZOOREC:ZOOR14409054805 }, author = {Vaclav, Radovan and Calero-Torralbo, Miguel A. and Valera, F.} }