Host dispersal and landscape conversion are associated with the composition of haemosporidian parasites of the golden-winged warbler

Abstract

Understanding factors that influence the spatial and temporal distributions of blood parasites is important to help predict how host species and their parasites may respond to global change. Factors that may influence parasite distributions are land cover and host dispersal patterns, which may result in exposure of a host to novel parasites, or escape from parasites of their origin. We screened golden-winged warblers from across the United States and Canada for blood parasites, and investigated whether land-use patterns or host dispersal affected the prevalence and composition of haemosporidian assemblages. Parasite prevalence varied strongly with study area, and areas with high agricultural cover had a significantly higher prevalence of Leucocytozoon and Parahaemoproteus parasites. Lineages of Parahaemoproteus and Leucocytozoon were genetically differentiated among study areas, and prevalence and composition of parasite assemblages indicated an increase in parasite prevalence and accumulation of unique parasite lineages from the southeast to the northwest. This matches the historical range expansion and natal dispersal patterns of golden-winged warblers, and suggests that golden-winged warblers may have been sensitive to novel parasites as they dispersed. The high prevalence and diversity of parasite lineages in the north-west extent of their breeding range (Manitoba) indicates that this population may face unique pressures.

Golden-winged Warbler body fat and blood parasites are associated with anthropogenic and environmental habitat metrics

“…We compared parasite haplotypes to known haplotypes in the literature using both the MalAVI BLAST and NCBI BLAST (Altschul et al 1990, Bensch et al 2009). The haplotypes found in several study sites across the range of Golden-winged Warblers, including this one, are discussed in a companion paper (Enslow et al 2020).…”

“…The Golden-winged Warbler population in Manitoba is potentially valuable from a conservation perspective because it has the lowest rate of genetic introgression with the Blue-winged Warbler across the breeding range (Vallender et al 2009, Moulton et al 2018). However, this population also has a high prevalence of blood-parasite infections, relative to other populations (i.e., in Kentucky, Ontario, and Wisconsin), perhaps because of high levels of anthropogenic development in the form of agriculture on the landscape, or because this population occurs near the edge of the species' historical north-west range expansion (Vallender et al 2012, Enslow et al 2020. If anthropogenic development leads to decreased body condition, or increased parasite prevalence, in Manitoba's Golden-winged Warblers, this may pose a conservation concern to this important population.…”

Metatranscriptomic analysis of common mosquito vector species in the Canadian Prairies

“…Of interest were P. gallinaceum and P. relictum, which are causal agents of avian influenza. Plasmodium parasites that cause avian malaria have been well documented in Manitoba bird populations, infecting birds at rates of upwards of 50% and is present in both migratory and non-migratory birds (Enslow 2017;Enslow et al 2020). Given the wellestablished ornithophilic blood-feeding preferences of Cx.…”

Metabarcoding options to study eukaryotic endoparasites of birds

“…There can be multiple incentives to describe these assemblages, from the point of view of parasite community ecology or host health and fitness consequences of multiple infections (Bordes & Morand, 2011 ; Marzal et al., 2008 ; de Roode et al., 2005 ). In birds, there is growing interest in the study of eukaryotic endoparasite communities for poultry farming (Hauck, 2017 ), conservation biology (Carlson et al., 2011 ; Riper et al., 1986 ), ecological history (Cornuault et al., 2012 ; Hellgren et al., 2011 ), descriptive epidemiology (Santiago‐Alarcon et al., 2008 ), or biodiversity and biogeography of avian parasites (Enslow et al., 2020 ; Fecchio et al., 2019 ). To date, most studies have focused on selected parasite groups, potentially missing interactions beyond these groups for lack of a practical approach to assess broader parasite diversity.…”

“…history (Cornuault et al, 2012;Hellgren et al, 2011), descriptive epidemiology (Santiago-Alarcon et al, 2008), or biodiversity and biogeography of avian parasites (Enslow et al, 2020;Fecchio et al, 2019).…”