Research on Avian Haemosporidian Parasites in the Tropics Before the Year 2000

Santiago‐Alarcon, Diego; Marzal, Alfonso

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-51633-8_1

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 180 publications

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“…Although avian haemosporidians are present in almost all geographical regions, these parasites have been irregularly studied across different biogeographical regions ( Valkiūnas 2005 ). This is especially apparent in the case of haemosporidians of Neotropical birds, which have received comparatively less attention than bird malaria parasites from temperate regions ( González et al 2015 ; Lotta et al 2019 ; Santiago-Alarcon and Marzal 2020 ). Although the Neotropical region exhibits the greatest ornithological biodiversity with 3,578 bird species described ( BirdLife 2020 ), only 969 avian haemosporidian lineages have been recorded in this region (MALAVI database version 2.4.4, 24 March 2020, Bensch et al 2009 ).…”

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Diversity and host assemblage of avian haemosporidians in different terrestrial ecoregions of Peru

et al. 2021

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Characterizing the diversity and structure of host-parasite communities is crucial to understanding their eco-evolutionary dynamics. Malaria and related haemosporidian parasites are responsible for fitness loss and mortality in bird species worldwide. However, despite exhibiting the greatest ornithological biodiversity, avian haemosporidians from Neotropical regions are quite unexplored. Here, we analyse the genetic diversity of bird haemosporidian parasites (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in 1,336 individuals belonging to 206 bird species to explore for differences in diversity of parasite lineages and bird species across five well-differentiated Peruvian ecoregions. We detected 70 different haemosporidian lineages infecting 74 bird species. We showed that 25 out of the 70 haplotypes had not been previously recorded. Moreover, we also identified 81 new host – parasite interactions representing new host records for these haemosporidian parasites. Our outcomes revealed that the effective diversity (as well as the richness, abundance, and Shannon-Weaver index) for both birds and parasite lineages was higher in Amazon basin ecoregions. Furthermore, we also showed that ecoregions with greater diversity of bird species also had high parasite richness, hence suggesting that host community is crucial in explaining parasite richness. Generalist parasites were found in ecoregions with lower bird diversity, implying that the abundance and richness of hosts may shape the exploitation strategy followed by haemosporidian parasites. These outcomes reveal that Neotropical region is a major reservoir of unidentified haemosporidian lineages. Further studies analysing host distribution and specificity of these parasites in the tropics will provide important knowledge about phylogenetic relationships, phylogeography, and patterns of evolution and distribution of haemosporidian parasites.

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Diversity and host assemblage of avian haemosporidians in different terrestrial ecoregions of Peru

et al. 2021

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“…Similarly, we found that Leucocytozoon assemblages exhibited higher SR in regions characterized by lower to moderate temperatures. Leucocytozoon is known to adapt well to both tropical and temperate environments [13,65,66]. However, abundant and diverse assemblages of Leucocytozoon in the Neotropical region are mainly restricted to highlands or non-equatorial systems [24,65,66].…”

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“…Leucocytozoon is known to adapt well to both tropical and temperate environments [13,65,66]. However, abundant and diverse assemblages of Leucocytozoon in the Neotropical region are mainly restricted to highlands or non-equatorial systems [24,65,66]. This is intriguing because Leucocytozoon is distributed in the Afrotropical region and has been detected in Amazonian lowlands in migratory birds [65,66].…”

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Energy input, habitat heterogeneity and host specificity drive avian haemosporidian diversity at continental scales

Darío Hernandes Córdoba,

Torres-Romero,

Villalobos

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The correct identification of variables affecting parasite diversity and assemblage composition at different spatial scales is crucial for understanding how pathogen distribution responds to anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. Here, we used a database of avian haemosporidian parasites to test how the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic structure of the genera Plasmodium , Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon from three zoogeographic regions are related to surrogate variables of Earth's energy input, habitat heterogeneity (climatic diversity, landscape heterogeneity, host richness and human disturbance) and ecological interactions (resource use), which was measured by a novel assemblage-level metric related to parasite niche overlap (degree of generalism). We found that different components of energy input explained variation in richness for each genus. We found that human disturbance influences the phylogenetic structure of Haemoproteus while the degree of generalism explained richness and phylogenetic structure of Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon genera. Furthermore, landscape attributes related to human disturbance (human footprint) can filter Haemoproteus assemblages by their phylogenetic relatedness. Finally, assembly processes related to resource use within parasite assemblages modify species richness and phylogenetic structure of Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon assemblages. Overall, our study highlighted the genus-specific patterns with the different components of Earth's energy budget, human disturbances and degree of generalism.

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“…They often co-occur in mixed infections (Savage et al, 2009) and in most instances, they do not pose significant harm to their avian hosts. However, it is important to acknowledge that research efforts have been disproportionately allocated among different parasite taxa, with the majority of available data focusing on Plasmodium and Haemoproteus, primarily due to their close relationship with agents responsible for human malaria (Atkinson et al, 2008;Santiago-Alarcon and Marzal, 2020).…”

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Haemosporidian parasite infections of Malagasy Philepittidae and Nectariniidae are driven by phylogeny rather than ecology

Barbon,

Berthoud,

Woog

et al. 2023

Parasitology

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The nectarivorous common sunbird asity (Neodrepanis coruscans) is phylogenetically closely related to the frugivorous velvet asity (Philepitta castanea), yet it shares similar habitat and foraging behaviour as the Malagasy sunbirds (Cinnyris spp.). As ecological factors have been shown to influence blood parasite prevalence, it should be tested whether parasite abundance, prevalence and diversity of N. coruscans are more similar to the sunbirds than to its relative. Therefore, blood samples (n = 156) and smears (n = 60) were tested for different blood parasites (Haemosporida, trypanosomes, filarioid nematodes) using molecular and microscopic methods. High prevalence of haemosporidian parasites was observed in all bird taxa, with rates ranging from 23% in N. coruscans to 84.6% in C. notatus. The Malagasy Cinnyris spp. exhibited a high occurrence of mixed haemosporidian infections (>76%) with various specialized lineages. Within the Philepittidae family, no Haemoproteus infection was detected and just a few cases of mixed infections. Nectariniidae species predominantly had specialized haemosporidian lineages, while Philepittidae had infections mainly caused by generalist lineages. These findings emphasize the diverse range of blood parasites in Nectariniidae, while additionally highlighting the high diversity of trypanosomes and filarioid nematodes in Philepittidae. Additionally, several newly discovered haemosporidian lineages, Trypanosoma isolates and filarioid nematode isolates were identified. Notably, Philepittidae exhibited a lower prevalence of avian haemosporidian parasites compared to Nectariniidae, possibly due to potential resistance mechanisms. Despite N. coruscans sharing similar habitat and behavioural ecology with both Cinnyris spp., it closely resembles its relative, P. castanea, in all aspects of haemosporidian parasitism.

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Research on Avian Haemosporidian Parasites in the Tropics Before the Year 2000

Cited by 14 publications

References 180 publications

Diversity and host assemblage of avian haemosporidians in different terrestrial ecoregions of Peru

Diversity and host assemblage of avian haemosporidians in different terrestrial ecoregions of Peru

Energy input, habitat heterogeneity and host specificity drive avian haemosporidian diversity at continental scales

Haemosporidian parasite infections of Malagasy Philepittidae and Nectariniidae are driven by phylogeny rather than ecology

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