Drivers of the Ectoparasite Community and Co-Infection Patterns in Rural and Urban Burrowing Owls
We analyzed the ectoparasite community of a monomorphic and non-social bird, the burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia, breeding in rural and urban habitats. Such community was composed by two lice, one mite and one flea species. Rural individuals had more fleas and less mites than urban ones. Adult bir...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad Europea (UEM) |
| Repositorio: | ABACUS. Repositorio de Producción Científica |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:abacus.universidadeuropea.com:11268/11778 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/11268/11778 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Interacciones huésped-parásitos Zoología Ave Parasitología |
| Resumo: | We analyzed the ectoparasite community of a monomorphic and non-social bird, the burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia, breeding in rural and urban habitats. Such community was composed by two lice, one mite and one flea species. Rural individuals had more fleas and less mites than urban ones. Adult birds harbored less ectoparasites than young ones and females harbored more lice than males. The presence of lice was positively related to the presence of fleas. On the contrary, the presence of mites was negatively related to the presence of fleas and lice. The study of parasite communities in urban and rural populations of the same species can shed light on how urban stressor factors impact the physiology of wildlife inhabiting cities and, therefore, the host-parasite relationships. |
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