Migratory behaviour does not alter cophylogenetic congruence between avian hosts and their haemosporidian parasites

Abstract

Parasites display various degrees of host specificity, reflecting different coevolutionary histories with their hosts. Avian hosts follow multiple migration patterns representing short but also long distances. As parasites infecting migratory birds are subjected to multiple environmental and biotic changes through their flyways, migration may disrupt or strengthen cophylogenetic congruence between hosts and parasites. On the one hand, parasites might adapt to a single migratory host, evolving to cope with the specific challenges associated with the multiple habitats occupied by the host. On the other, as migrants can introduce parasites into new habitats, higher rates of host switching could also disrupt cophylogenetic patterns. We analysed whether migratory behaviour shapes avian haemosporidian parasite–host cophylogenetic congruence by testing if contributions of host–parasite links to overall congruence differ among resident and short-, variable- and long-distance migrants globally and within South America only. On both scales, we found significant overall cophylogenetic congruence by testing whether overall congruence differed between haemosporidian lineages and bird species. However, we found no difference in contribution towards congruence among links involving resident vs migratory hosts in both models. Thus, migratory behaviour neither weakens nor strengthens bird–haemosporidian cophylogenetic congruence, suggesting that other avian host traits are more influential in generating phylogenetic congruence in this host–parasite system.

Revealing the drivers of parasite community assembly: using avian haemosporidians to model global dynamics of parasite species turnover

“…Here, we demonstrated a great overlap in the deviance explained by host and environmental features. Since haemosporidians coevolve with their hosts (Pacheco et al 2018, de Angeli Dutra et al 2022), they are in turn constantly under selection to adapt to the environmental conditions those hosts inhabit or migrate into. Consequently, the linked effects of environmental and host features on parasite turnover might be the outcome of similar selective pressures for abiotic tolerance faced mutually by both haemosporidian parasites and their avian hosts through their evolutionary history.…”

Nowhere to escape: the cross‐age avian haemosporidian exposure of migrants in northeast China

“…2) may be specific to yellow‐rumped flycatcher adults. This pattern is possibly due to the host specificity of certain parasites (Reeves et al 2015, de Angeli Dutra et al 2022), the innate genetic heterogeneity in the immunity of hosts (Spurgin and Richardson 2010), or the composition of insect vectors in wintering and breeding areas, which may transmit different parasite lineages (Drovetski et al 2014). Therefore, the second scenario is more likely to occur in our case, i.e.…”

Host phylogeny and seasonality shapes avian haemosporidian prevalence in a Brazilian biodiverse and dry forest: the Caatinga

“…Moreover, we also evidenced a very high-level of phylogenetic association between haemosporidian prevalence and birds from the Brazilian Caatinga. Phylogenetic relationships among hosts often reflect their association with parasites (Clark et al, 2018;Pacheco et al, 2018;Park et al, 2020;de Angeli Dutra et al, 2022). For this reason, parasite prevalence might vary following phylogenetic relationships among hosts (i.e.…”