Specialist versus generalist parasites: The interactions between host diversity, environment and geographic barriers in avian malaria
- Doussang, Daniela
- Sallaberry Pincheirab, Nicole
- Cabanne, Gustavo Sebastián
- Lijtmaer, Dario Alejandro
- González Acuña, Daniel
- Vianna, Juliana A.
DOIAbstract
The specialist versus generalist strategies of hemoparasites in relation to their avian host, as well as environmental factors, can influence their prevalence, diversity and distribution. In this paper we investigated the influence of avian host species, as well as the environmental and geographical factors, on the strategies of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium hemoparasites. We determined prevalence and diversity by targeting their cytochrome b (Cytb) in a total of 2,590 passerine samples from 138 localities of Central and South America, and analysed biogeographic patterns and host-parasite relationships. We found a total prevalence of 23.2%. Haemoproteus presented a higher prevalence (15.3%) than Plasmodium (4.3%), as well as a higher diversit...
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