Uropygial gland volume and malaria infection are related to survival in migratory house martins

Magallanes, Sergio; García‐Longoria, Luz; López‐Calderón, Cosme; Reviriego, Maribel; Lope, Florentino de; Møller, Anders Pape; Marzal, Alfonso

doi:10.1111/jav.01514

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…Blood parasite pathogenic potential can negatively affect wild bird's survival probability and consequently can also affect population dynamics [1][2][3][4]. By extension, parasite infections can have conservation impacts, particularly for small populations or declining bird species [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian Haemosporidian Diversity on Sardinia: A First General Assessment for the Insular Mediterranean

et al. 2021

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The Western Palearctic is one of the most investigated regions for avian haemosporidian parasites (Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon), yet geographic gaps in our regional knowledge remain. Here, we report the first haemosporidian screening of the breeding birds from Sardinia (the second-largest Mediterranean Island and a biodiversity hotspot), and the first for the insular Mediterranean in general. We examined the occurrence of haemosporidians by amplifying their mtDNA cytb gene in 217 breeding birds, belonging to 32 species. The total prevalence of infected birds was 55.3%, and of the 116 haplotypes recovered, 84 were novel. Despite the high number of novel lineages, phylogenetic analysis did not highlight Sardinia-specific clades; instead, some Sardinian lineages were more closely related to lineages previously recovered from continental Europe. Host-parasite network analysis indicated a specialized host-parasite community. Binomial generalized linear models (GLMs), performed at the community level, suggested an elevational effect on haemosporidian occurrence probability (negative for Haemoproteus; positive for Leucocytozoon) likely due to differences in the abundance of insect vectors at different elevations. Furthermore, a GLM revealed that sedentary birds showed a higher probability of being infected by novel haplotypes and long-distance migrants showed a lower probability of novel haplotype infection. We hypothesize that the high diversity of haemosporidians is linked to the isolation of breeding bird populations on Sardinia. This study adds to the growing knowledge on haemosporidians lineage diversity and distribution in insular environments and presents new insights on potential host-parasite associations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian Haemosporidian Diversity on Sardinia: A First General Assessment for the Insular Mediterranean

et al. 2021

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“…Although the cross-sectional design of the current study does not enable to demonstrate directly the absence of senescence in preen gland diameter, we suggest that monotonous increase of the preen gland size with age can be best explained by selective disappearance of the birds with smaller preen glands (and thus less capable of maintaining plumage in prime condition) from the older age cohorts. Consistent with such a scenario, a recent study in house martins (Delichon urbica) showed that malaria-infected birds with larger uropygial glands were better able to survive to the next breeding season, while infected birds with small uropygial glands were not (Magallanes et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Uropygial gland size: a marker of phenotypic quality that shows no senescence in a long-lived seabird

et al. 2018

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Studies of senescence in the wild have traditionally focused on traits like survival or fecundity. Although efforts to measure other salient phenotypic traits and markers of relevant physiological processes are rapidly increasing, traits related to selfmaintenance remain understudied in the context of aging. Uropygial or preen gland is a holocrine gland, exclusive to birds, directly linked to self-maintenance of the quality of plumage. We measured the size of uropygial glands of common gulls (Larus canus) in a cross sectional manner in order to test whether it shows the similar age-related decline as reproductive traits previously recorded in this species. Gulls with larger glands started breeding earlier in the season, indicating that gland size is a marker of individual phenotypic quality. We found a senescent decline in the onset of breeding and the size of white wing patches, a sexually dimorphic ornamental trait, while in contrast, preen gland increased with advancing age. This finding supports the view of life-history theory that in long-lived species whose lifetime reproductive success depends heavily on lifespan, self-maintenance is prioritized over reproduction. Altogether our results support the concept that senescence in the wild can be asynchronous for traits related to maintenance versus reproduction.

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“…The size of the uropygial gland is positively related to the amount of secretions produced for a variety of species (Elder 1954;Møller et al 2010;Pap et al 2010) as the gland is made up of tubules where secretion of the substances occur (Jacob and Ziswiler 1982), and secretions are hypothesized to have antiparasitic substances (Moreno-Rueda 2017). Hence, selection for defence through uropygial gland secretions could be an important factor for fitness components such as reproductive success (Whittaker et al 2013) and survival (Merino et al 2000;Møller et al 2010;Magallanes et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extra-pair paternity and antiparasitic defence

2020

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Background Extra-pair paternity (EPP) in birds provides benefits in terms of more offspring, and characteristics for maintenance of this behaviour have been the subject of investigation. Microorganisms are known to be transmitted during mating, especially when mating with multiple partners, and factors reducing this cost of multiple mating are expected. Further, plumage brightness and colour intensity have been shown to be important traits to benefits from multiple mating as predicted by sexual selection. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the rate of extra-pair paternity and the relative size of the uropygial gland at the interspecific level, as the uropygial gland is an exocrine gland hypothesized to produce antiparasitic substances and further identified to affect plumage brightness. Because of the expected benefits of large uropygial gland in scenarios of sexual selection, we predicted a positive correlation with EPP. Methods We collected information from the literature of uropygial gland size and frequency of extra-pair paternity of 60 avian species of different families and explored the predicted positive correlation between them. We did so with means of comparative analyses that considered phylogenetic relationship as random factor and included body mass as covariate. We used Markov chain Monte Carlo generalized linear mixed models that were weighted by number of nests used to estimate extra-pair paternity. Results We detected a positive relationship between level of extra-pair paternity and uropygial gland size at an interspecific level. This finding is consistent with the prediction. Conclusions We discuss the importance of this result in scenarios of sexual selection and argue that the detected relationship may have arisen by utilizing antiparasitic secretions through secondary sexual characters indicating parasite resistance.

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Uropygial gland volume and malaria infection are related to survival in migratory house martins

Cited by 15 publications

References 48 publications

Avian Haemosporidian Diversity on Sardinia: A First General Assessment for the Insular Mediterranean

Avian Haemosporidian Diversity on Sardinia: A First General Assessment for the Insular Mediterranean

Uropygial gland size: a marker of phenotypic quality that shows no senescence in a long-lived seabird

Extra-pair paternity and antiparasitic defence

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