Effects of Chronic Avian Malaria (Plasmodium Relictum) Infection on Reproductive Success of Hawaii Amakihi (Hemignathus Virens)

Kilpatrick, A. Marm; LaPointe, Dennis A.; Atkinson, Carter T.; Woodworth, Bethany L.; Lease, Julie K.; Reiter, Matthew E.; Gross, Kevin

doi:10.1093/auk/123.3.764

Cited by 33 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Demography may also play a key role in resistance. Modelling and field studies suggests that amakihi may be the honeycreeper best adapted to survive malaria; chronic malaria infection had no negative effect on reproductive success in a mid‐elevation population of amakihi, and populations infected with malaria can have positive population growth (Kilpatrick 2006; Kilpatrick et al . 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure and evolved malaria resistance in Hawaiian honeycreepers

et al. 2007

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Infectious diseases now threaten wildlife populations worldwide but population recovery following local extinction has rarely been observed. In such a case, do resistant individuals recolonize from a central remnant population, or do they spread from small, perhaps overlooked, populations of resistant individuals? Introduced avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) has devastated low-elevation populations of native birds in Hawaii, but at least one species (Hawaii amakihi, Hemignathus virens) that was greatly reduced at elevations below about 1000 m tolerates malaria and has initiated a remarkable and rapid recovery. We assessed mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers from amakihi and two other Hawaiian honeycreepers, apapane (Himatione sanguínea) and iiwi (Vestiaria coccínea), at nine primary study sites from 2001 to 2003 to determine the source of re-establishing birds. In addition, we obtained sequences from tissue from amakihi museum study skins (1898 and 1948-49) to assess temporal changes in alíele distributions. We found that amakihi in lowland areas are, and have historically been, differentiated from birds at high elevations and had unique alíeles retained through time; that is, their genetic signature was not a subset of the genetic variation at higher elevations. We suggest that high disease pressure rapidly selected for resistance to malaria at low elevation, leaving small pockets of resistant birds, and this resistance spread outward from the scattered remnant populations. Low-elevation amakihi are currently isolated from higher elevations (> 1000 m) where disease emergence and transmission rates appear to vary seasonally and armually. In contrast to results from amakihi, no genetic differentiation between elevations was found in apapane and iiwi, indicating that slight variation in genetic or life-history attributes can determine disease resistance and population recovery. Determining the conditions that allow for the development of resistance to disease is essential to understanding how species evolve resistance across a landscape of varying disease pressures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure and evolved malaria resistance in Hawaiian honeycreepers

et al. 2007

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“…the acute infection) whereas individuals surviving the primary infection can either clear it or carry chronic stages that generally have few, if any, effects on the infected host (Bensch et al . 2007; Kilpatrick et al . 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, another possibility is that both primary and chronic malaria infections had little or no impact on fitness in the study species and this could explain the absence of association between individual genetic diversity and blood parasite prevalence (e.g. Kilpatrick et al . 2006; Bensch et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No relationship between individual genetic diversity and prevalence of avian malaria in a migratory kestrel

2007

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Insight into the genetic basis of malaria resistance is crucial for understanding the consequences of this parasite group on animal populations. Here, we analyse the relationship between genotypic variation at 11 highly variable microsatellite loci and prevalence of three different lineages of avian malaria, two Plasmodium (RTSR1, LK6) and one Haemoproteus (LK2), in a wild population of the endangered lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). Although we used a large sample size (584 typed individuals), we did not find any significant association between the prevalence of the studied parasite lineages and individual genetic diversity. Although our data set is large, the 11 neutral markers typed may have had low power to detect such association, in part because of the low parasite prevalence observed (less than 5% of infected birds). However, the fact that we have detected previous correlations between genetic diversity and other traits (ectoparasitism risk, fecundity) in the study population using the same panel of neutral markers and lower sample sizes suggests that other factors could underlie the absence of such a similar correlation with avian malaria. Differences in the genetics of the studied traits and in their particular basis of inbreeding depression (dominance vs. overdominance) may have led to malaria prevalence, but not other traits, being uncoupled with individual genetic diversity. Also, we cannot discard the possibility that the absence of association was a consequence of a low pathogenic effect of these particular malaria lineages on our lesser kestrel population, and thus we should not expect the evolution of genetic resistance against these parasites.

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“…Even in species where acute infections cause high rates of mortality, such as Hawaii amakihi ( Hemignathus virens ) infected with Plasmodium relictum (Atkinson et al. , 2000), no associations are detectable between chronic infection status and measures of fitness (Kilpatrick et al. , 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic malaria infections increase family inequalities and reduce parental fitness: experimental evidence from a wild bird population

Knowles

Palinauskas

Sheldon

2010

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

218

220

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Avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium) occur commonly in wild birds and are an increasingly popular model system for understanding host–parasite co‐evolution. However, whether these parasites have fitness consequences for hosts in endemic areas is much debated, particularly since wild‐caught individuals almost always harbour chronic infections of very low parasite density. We used the anti‐malarial drug MalaroneTM to test experimentally for fitness effects of chronic malaria infection in a wild population of breeding blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Medication caused a pronounced reduction in Plasmodium infection intensity, usually resulting in complete clearance of these parasites from the blood, as revealed by quantitative PCR. Positive effects of medication on malaria‐infected birds were found at multiple stages during breeding, with medicated females showing higher hatching success, provisioning rates and fledging success compared to controls. Most strikingly, we found that treatment of maternal malaria infections strongly altered within‐family differences, with reduced inequality in hatching probability and fledging mass within broods reared by medicated females. These within‐brood effects appear to explain higher fledging success among medicated females and are consistent with a model of parental optimism in which smaller (marginal) offspring can be successfully raised to independence if additional resources become available during the breeding attempt. Overall, these results demonstrate that chronic avian malaria infections, far from being benign, can have significant effects on host fitness and may thus constitute an important selection pressure in wild bird populations.

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Effects of Chronic Avian Malaria (Plasmodium Relictum) Infection on Reproductive Success of Hawaii Amakihi (Hemignathus Virens)

Cited by 33 publications

References 39 publications

Genetic structure and evolved malaria resistance in Hawaiian honeycreepers

Genetic structure and evolved malaria resistance in Hawaiian honeycreepers

No relationship between individual genetic diversity and prevalence of avian malaria in a migratory kestrel

Chronic malaria infections increase family inequalities and reduce parental fitness: experimental evidence from a wild bird population

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