Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes?
BACKGROUND: Parasites can exert selection pressure on their hosts through effects on survival, on reproductive success, on sexually selected ornament, with important ecological and evolutionary consequences, such as changes in population viability. Consequently, hemoparasites have become the focus o...
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
2018
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Online Access: | http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-153450 http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2020/15345/ |
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ftubgiessen:oai:geb.uni-giessen.de:15345 |
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openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Publication Server of the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen |
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ftubgiessen |
language |
English |
topic |
antiparasitic metabolites blood parasites cacatuidae haemoparasites herbivorous Zoological sciences |
spellingShingle |
antiparasitic metabolites blood parasites cacatuidae haemoparasites herbivorous Zoological sciences Masello, Juan F. Martinez, Juan Calderón, Luciano Wink, Michael Quillfeldt, Petra Sanz, Virginia Theuerkauf, Jörn Ortiz-Catedral, Luis Berkunsky, Igor Brunton, Dianne DÃaz-Luque, José A. Hauber, Mark E. Ojeda, Valeria Barnaud, Antoine Casalins, Laura Jackson, Bethany Mijares, Alfredo Rosales, Romel Seixas, Gláucia Serafini, Patricia Silva-Iturriza, Adriana Sipinski, Elenise Vásquez, Rodrigo A. Widmann, Peter Widmann, Indira Merino, Santiago Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? |
topic_facet |
antiparasitic metabolites blood parasites cacatuidae haemoparasites herbivorous Zoological sciences |
description |
BACKGROUND: Parasites can exert selection pressure on their hosts through effects on survival, on reproductive success, on sexually selected ornament, with important ecological and evolutionary consequences, such as changes in population viability. Consequently, hemoparasites have become the focus of recent avian studies. Infection varies significantly among taxa. Various factors might explain the differences in infection among taxa, including habitat, climate, host density, the presence of vectors, life history and immune defence. Feeding behaviour can also be relevant both through increased exposure to vectors and consumption of secondary metabolites with preventative or therapeutic effects that can reduce parasite load. However, the latter has been little investigated. Psittaciformes (parrots and cockatoos) are a good model to investigate these topics, as they are known to use biological control against ectoparasites and to feed on toxic food. We investigated the presence of avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium), intracellular haemosporidians (Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon), unicellular flagellate protozoans (Trypanosoma) and microfilariae in 19 Psittaciformes species from a range of habitats in the Indo-Malayan, Australasian and Neotropical regions. We gathered additional data on hemoparasites in wild Psittaciformes from the literature. We considered factors that may control the presence of hemoparasites in the Psittaciformes, compiling information on diet, habitat, and climate. Furthermore, we investigated the role of diet in providing antiparasitic secondary metabolites that could be used as self-medication to reduce parasite load. RESULTS: We found hemoparasites in only two of 19 species sampled. Among them, all species that consume at least one food item known for its secondary metabolites with antimalarial, trypanocidal or general antiparasitic properties, were free from hemoparasites. In contrast, the infected parrots do not consume food items with antimalarial or even general antiparasitic properties. We found that the two infected species in this study consumed omnivorous diets. When we combined our data with data from studies previously investigating blood parasites in wild parrots, the positive relationship between omnivorous diets and hemoparasite infestation was confirmed. Individuals from open habitats were less infected than those from forests. CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of food items known for their secondary metabolites with antimalarial, trypanocidal or general antiparasitic properties, as well as the higher proportion of infected species among omnivorous parrots, could explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites reported in many vertebrates. |
author2 |
Institut für Tierökologie und Spezielle Zoologie, AG Verhaltensökologie und Ökophysiologie |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Masello, Juan F. Martinez, Juan Calderón, Luciano Wink, Michael Quillfeldt, Petra Sanz, Virginia Theuerkauf, Jörn Ortiz-Catedral, Luis Berkunsky, Igor Brunton, Dianne DÃaz-Luque, José A. Hauber, Mark E. Ojeda, Valeria Barnaud, Antoine Casalins, Laura Jackson, Bethany Mijares, Alfredo Rosales, Romel Seixas, Gláucia Serafini, Patricia Silva-Iturriza, Adriana Sipinski, Elenise Vásquez, Rodrigo A. Widmann, Peter Widmann, Indira Merino, Santiago |
author_facet |
Masello, Juan F. Martinez, Juan Calderón, Luciano Wink, Michael Quillfeldt, Petra Sanz, Virginia Theuerkauf, Jörn Ortiz-Catedral, Luis Berkunsky, Igor Brunton, Dianne DÃaz-Luque, José A. Hauber, Mark E. Ojeda, Valeria Barnaud, Antoine Casalins, Laura Jackson, Bethany Mijares, Alfredo Rosales, Romel Seixas, Gláucia Serafini, Patricia Silva-Iturriza, Adriana Sipinski, Elenise Vásquez, Rodrigo A. Widmann, Peter Widmann, Indira Merino, Santiago |
author_sort |
Masello, Juan F. |
title |
Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? |
title_short |
Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? |
title_full |
Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? |
title_fullStr |
Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? |
title_sort |
can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild psittaciformes? |
publisher |
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-153450 http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2020/15345/ |
genre |
Avian Studies |
genre_facet |
Avian Studies |
op_source |
Parasites & Vectors 11(357) doi:10.1186/s13071-018-2940-3 |
op_relation |
urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-153450 http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2020/15345/ |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766365016032804864 |
spelling |
ftubgiessen:oai:geb.uni-giessen.de:15345 2023-05-15T15:34:43+02:00 Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes? Masello, Juan F. Martinez, Juan Calderón, Luciano Wink, Michael Quillfeldt, Petra Sanz, Virginia Theuerkauf, Jörn Ortiz-Catedral, Luis Berkunsky, Igor Brunton, Dianne DÃaz-Luque, José A. Hauber, Mark E. Ojeda, Valeria Barnaud, Antoine Casalins, Laura Jackson, Bethany Mijares, Alfredo Rosales, Romel Seixas, Gláucia Serafini, Patricia Silva-Iturriza, Adriana Sipinski, Elenise Vásquez, Rodrigo A. Widmann, Peter Widmann, Indira Merino, Santiago Institut für Tierökologie und Spezielle Zoologie, AG Verhaltensökologie und Ökophysiologie 2018 application/pdf http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-153450 http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2020/15345/ eng eng Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen FB 08 - Biologie und Chemie. Biologie urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-153450 http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2020/15345/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Parasites & Vectors 11(357) doi:10.1186/s13071-018-2940-3 antiparasitic metabolites blood parasites cacatuidae haemoparasites herbivorous Zoological sciences Article 2018 ftubgiessen 2020-08-09T22:19:25Z BACKGROUND: Parasites can exert selection pressure on their hosts through effects on survival, on reproductive success, on sexually selected ornament, with important ecological and evolutionary consequences, such as changes in population viability. Consequently, hemoparasites have become the focus of recent avian studies. Infection varies significantly among taxa. Various factors might explain the differences in infection among taxa, including habitat, climate, host density, the presence of vectors, life history and immune defence. Feeding behaviour can also be relevant both through increased exposure to vectors and consumption of secondary metabolites with preventative or therapeutic effects that can reduce parasite load. However, the latter has been little investigated. Psittaciformes (parrots and cockatoos) are a good model to investigate these topics, as they are known to use biological control against ectoparasites and to feed on toxic food. We investigated the presence of avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium), intracellular haemosporidians (Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon), unicellular flagellate protozoans (Trypanosoma) and microfilariae in 19 Psittaciformes species from a range of habitats in the Indo-Malayan, Australasian and Neotropical regions. We gathered additional data on hemoparasites in wild Psittaciformes from the literature. We considered factors that may control the presence of hemoparasites in the Psittaciformes, compiling information on diet, habitat, and climate. Furthermore, we investigated the role of diet in providing antiparasitic secondary metabolites that could be used as self-medication to reduce parasite load. RESULTS: We found hemoparasites in only two of 19 species sampled. Among them, all species that consume at least one food item known for its secondary metabolites with antimalarial, trypanocidal or general antiparasitic properties, were free from hemoparasites. In contrast, the infected parrots do not consume food items with antimalarial or even general antiparasitic properties. We found that the two infected species in this study consumed omnivorous diets. When we combined our data with data from studies previously investigating blood parasites in wild parrots, the positive relationship between omnivorous diets and hemoparasite infestation was confirmed. Individuals from open habitats were less infected than those from forests. CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of food items known for their secondary metabolites with antimalarial, trypanocidal or general antiparasitic properties, as well as the higher proportion of infected species among omnivorous parrots, could explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites reported in many vertebrates. Article in Journal/Newspaper Avian Studies Publication Server of the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen |