Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The occurrence of haemosporidian parasites in the Fennoscandian bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) population

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Ornithology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A total of 86 adult bluethroats (Luscinia svecica) from nine different localities, covering the full length of the Fennoscandian mountain range, were screened for blood parasites of the three genera Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon using a recently developed polymerase chain reaction method. The overall occurrence of infection was 59.3%. Prevalence of Leucocytozoon spp. (47.7%), Plasmodium spp. (23.3%) and Haemoproteus spp. (1.2%) was detected. Of the infected birds, 15.1% carried mixed infections. Five different mitochondrial DNA-lineages of Leucocytozoon spp., eight lineages of Plasmodium spp. and one lineage of Haemoproteus spp. were found. Due to large sequence divergence these corresponded to at least five different species, but with the possibility of all 14 being independent evolutionary units with the potential of evolving different effects on the host. Of the lineages of Leucocytozoon spp., the most common was found throughout the range. The occurrence of the second most common lineage of Leucocytozoon spp. showed significant variation in prevalence between sites. The data also showed molecular evidence of one lineage of Leucocytozoon sp. existing in more than one species of avian host, thus challenging the use of host taxon as a taxonomic character when distinguishing between different species leucocytozoids.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adlard RD, Peirce MA, Lederer R (2002) New species of Leucocytozoon from the avian families Otidae, Podargidae and Threskiornithidae. J Nat Hist 36:1261–1267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson CT, Van Riper III C (1991) Pathogenicity and epizootiology of avian haematozoa: Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon, and Haemoproteus. In: Loye JT, Zuk M (eds) Bird-parasite interactions: ecology, evolution and behavior. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 19–48

  • Bensch S, Stjernman M, Hasselquist D, Östman Ö, Hansson B, Westerdahl H, Pinheiro RT (2000) Host specificity in avian blood parasites: a study of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus mitochondrial DNA amplified from birds. Proc R Soc Lond B 267:1583–1589

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bensch S, Perez-Triss J, Waldenström J, Hellgren O (2004) Linkage between nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences in avian malaria parasites – multiple cases of cryptic speciation? Evolution (in press)

  • Cramp S (ed) (1988) The birds of western Palearctic, vol 5. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

  • Desser SS, Bennett GF (1993) The genera Leucocytozoon, Haemoproteus and Hepatocystis. In: Kreier JP (ed) Parasitc protozoa, vol 4. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 273–307

  • Deviche P, Greiner EC, Manteca X (2001) Seasonal and age-related changes in blood parasite prevalence in dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis, Aves, Passeriformes). J Exp Zool 289:456–466

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Escalante AA, Freeland DE, Collins WE, Lal AA (1998) The evolution of primate malaria parasites based on the gene encoding cytochrome b from the linear mitochondrial genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:8124–8129

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fallis MA, Desser, SS (1977) On species of Leucocytozoon,Haemoproteus and Hepatocystis. In: Kreier JP (ed) Parasitic protozoa, vol 3. Academic Press, New York, pp 239–266

  • Hall TA (1999) BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor v. 5.0.9. Nucl Acids Symp Ser 41:95-98

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hellgren O, Waldenström J, Bensch S (2004) A new PCR assay for simultaneous studies of Leucocytozoon, Plasmodium and Haemoproteus from avian blood. J Parasitol (in press)

  • Hey J, Waples, RS, Arnold ML, Butlin RK, Harrisson RG (2003) Understanding and confronting species uncertainty in biology and conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 18:597–603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Koichiro T, Jacobsen IB, Nei M (2001) MEGA2: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis software. Bioinformation 17:1244–1245

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Malmqvist B (1994) Preimaginal blackflies (Diptera, Simuliidae) and their predators in a central Scandinavian lake outlet stream. Ann Zool Fenn 31:245–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Malmqvist B (1999) Life history of Metacnephia lyra, a blackfly highly characteristic of large Swedish river rapids at the time of maximum discharge (Diptera : Simuliidae). Aquat Insects 2:1 89–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Malmqvist B, Zhang YX, Adler P H (1999) Diversity, distribution and larval habitats of north Swedish blackflies (Diptera : Simuliidae). Freshw Biol 42:301–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malmqvist B, Strasevicius D, Hellgren O, Adler PH, Bensch S (2004) Vertebrate host specificity of wild-caught blackflies revealed by mitochondrial DNA in blood. Proc R Soc Lond B 271:152–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojanen U, Ratti O, Adler PH, Kuusela K, Malmqvist B, Helle P (2002). Blood feeding by black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) on black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in Finland. Entomol Fenn 13:153–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Peirce MA, (1981) Distribution and host-parasite check-list of the haematozoa of birds in West Europe. J Nat Hist 15:419–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkins SL, Osgood SM, Schall JJ (1998) Use of PCR for detection of subpatent infections of lizard malaria: implications for epizootiology. Mol Ecol 7:1587–1590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richard FA, Sehgal RNM, Jones HI, Smith TB (2002) A comparative analysis of PCR-based detection methods for avian malaria. J Parasitol 88:819–822

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riche TL (1988) Interaction between malaria parasites infecting the same vertebrate host. Parasitology 96:607–639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rintamäki PT, Ojanen W, Pakkala H, Tynjälä M (1998) Blood parasites of migrating willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus) at a stopover site. Can J Zool 76:984–988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rintamaki PT, Huhta E, Jokimaki J, Squires-Parsons D (1999) Leucocytozoonosis and trypanosomiasis in redstarts in Finland. J Wildl Dis 35:603–607

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sambrook J, Fritch FJ, Maniatis T (2002) Molecular cloning, a labaratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.

  • Valkiûnas G (1997) Bird haemosporida. Institute of Ecology, Vilnius, Lithuania

  • Valkiûnas G, Ashford RW (2002) Natural host range is not a valid taxonomic character. Trends Parasitol 18:528–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Valkiûnas G, Iezhova TA, Shapoval AP (2003) High prevalence of blood parasites in hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes . J Nat Hist 37:2647–2652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldenström J, Bensch S, Kiboi S, Hasselquist D, Ottosson U (2002) Cross-species infection of blood parasites between resident and migratory songbirds in Africa. Mol Ecol 11:1545–1554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldenström J, Hasselquist D, Bensch S, Östman Ö. (2004) A new nested polymerase chain reaction method very efficient in detecting Haemoproteus and Plasmodium infections from avian blood. J Parasitol 90:191–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by grants from Stiftelsen Lunds Djurskyddsfond and Olle och Signild Engkvist Stiftelser. Thanks to Charlotte Valind for excellent help during the sampling trip, Åke Lindström for making the field trip possible, and Kjell Grimsby, Thomas Holmberg, Trond Amundsen and Nils-Åke Andersson for help during the field season. I thank Dennis Hasselquist for scientific input. Staffan Bensch and Jonas Waldenström provided insightful comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Ecology, Ecology Building, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden

    Olof Hellgren

Authors
  1. Olof Hellgren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olof Hellgren.

Additional information

Communicated by F. Bairlein

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hellgren, O. The occurrence of haemosporidian parasites in the Fennoscandian bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) population. J Ornithol 146, 55–60 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-004-0055-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-004-0055-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation