Yellow avian plumage is a direct result of carotenoid pigments obtained in a bird’s diet and may act as an indicator for individual health, parasite resistance, and status. This study describes breast feather reflectance of adult Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) (n=169), insectivorous Neotropical migrant passerines, throughout the Ultraviolet (UV) and human visible light spectra and examines the relationship between Haemosporidia (pathogen causing Avian Malaria) infection and feather reflectance (n=41). Reflectance was characterized using a Principle Component Analysis evaluating Intensity, Brightness, Hue, UV Intensity, UV Brightness, and UV Chroma. UV and visible light reflectance was higher in birds sampled earlier in the field season (early clutch) (p=0.0017 and p=0.0743 respectively). There was no relationship between infection and either visible light or hue. However, UV reflectance was lower in infected birds (p=0.0843). This study suggests that UV reflectance is an important indicator for the infection status of a Neotropical migrant passerine.

<p>Hemosporidije&nbsp; kao&nbsp; krvno&nbsp; prenosivi&nbsp; paraziti, veoma su rasprostranjeni u populacijama ptica &scaron;irom&nbsp; planete.&nbsp; Izazivaju&nbsp; avijarnu&nbsp; malariju&nbsp; ili stanje&nbsp; slično&nbsp; njoj,&nbsp; a&nbsp; prenose&nbsp; se&nbsp; preko insekatskih&nbsp; vektora.&nbsp; Hemosporidije&nbsp; su&nbsp; veoma dobro&nbsp; proučene&nbsp; u&nbsp; severnoj&nbsp; i&nbsp; zapanoj&nbsp; Evropi&nbsp; i Severnoj&nbsp; Americi.&nbsp; S&nbsp; obzirom&nbsp; da&nbsp; su hemosporidije&nbsp; slabije&nbsp; izučavane&nbsp; u Palearktičkom&nbsp; migratornom&nbsp; sistemu&nbsp; zapadnog Balkana, osnovni cilj bio je da se istraži koje su vrste&nbsp; tri&nbsp; ispitivana&nbsp; roda&nbsp; hemosporidija <em>Plasmodium</em>,&nbsp; <em>Haemoproteus&nbsp;</em> i<em>&nbsp; Leucocytozoon</em> zastupljene&nbsp; kod&nbsp; različitih&nbsp; migratornih&nbsp; grupa ptica&nbsp; pevačica&nbsp; u&nbsp; Srbiji.&nbsp; Rasprostranjenje,prevalenca&nbsp; i&nbsp; parazitemija&nbsp; ustanovljene&nbsp; su&nbsp; na dva načina: pregledanjem krvnih razmaza ptica i&nbsp; pomoću&nbsp; molekularne&nbsp; (PCR)&nbsp; metode. Sakupljeno&nbsp; je&nbsp; 202&nbsp; uzorka&nbsp; krvi&nbsp; sa&nbsp; sedam lokaliteta.&nbsp; Zaraza&nbsp; rodovima <em>Plasmodium,Haemoproteus</em>&nbsp; i&nbsp; <em>Leucocytozoon</em>&nbsp; ustanovljena je kod&nbsp; 66&nbsp; jedinki,&nbsp; sa&nbsp; ukupnom&nbsp; prevalencom&nbsp; od 32,7%.&nbsp; Najče&scaron;ći&nbsp; rod&nbsp; hemosporidija&nbsp; bilo&nbsp; je <em>Haemoproteus</em>&nbsp; sa&nbsp; prevalencom&nbsp; od&nbsp; 26,1%.&nbsp; Sve zaražene&nbsp; ptice&nbsp; bile&nbsp; su&nbsp; adultne.&nbsp; Samo&nbsp; je&nbsp; jedna ptica&nbsp; imala&nbsp; ko-infekciju.&nbsp; Ustanovljena&nbsp; je&nbsp; 31 loza,&nbsp; od&nbsp; čega&nbsp; su&nbsp; dve&nbsp; potpuno&nbsp; nove&nbsp; i neotkrivene&nbsp; do&nbsp; sada.&nbsp; Loza&nbsp; CCF25&nbsp; iz&nbsp; roda <em>Plasmodium,</em>&nbsp; izolovana&nbsp; je&nbsp; kod&nbsp; obične&nbsp; zebe (<em>Fringilla&nbsp; coelebs)</em>,&nbsp; a&nbsp; dok&nbsp; ORIORI04&nbsp; pripada rodu&nbsp; <em>Leucocytozoon</em>&nbsp; i&nbsp; izolovana&nbsp; je&nbsp; kod vuge(<em>Oriolus&nbsp; oriolus</em>).&nbsp; Loza&nbsp; GRW06<br />(<em>Plasmodium&nbsp; elongatum)&nbsp;</em> izolovana&nbsp; je&nbsp; po&nbsp; prvi put&nbsp; kod&nbsp; obične&nbsp; zebe,&nbsp; dok&nbsp; su&nbsp; loze&nbsp; PARUS20&nbsp; i PARUS25&nbsp; (<em>Leucocytozoon&nbsp; sp</em>.)&nbsp; po&nbsp; prvi&nbsp; put zabeležene&nbsp; kod&nbsp; planinske&nbsp; sive&nbsp; (<em>Poecile montanus)</em>&nbsp; i&nbsp; ćubaste&nbsp; senice&nbsp; (<em>Lophophanes cristatus)</em>.&nbsp; Većina&nbsp; ptica&nbsp; (29)&nbsp; imala&nbsp; je&nbsp; srednji nivo&nbsp; parazitemije.&nbsp; Ustanovljena&nbsp; je&nbsp; značajna razlika&nbsp; u&nbsp; prevalenci&nbsp; između&nbsp; stanarica&nbsp; i delimičnih&nbsp; selica.&nbsp; Razlika&nbsp; u&nbsp; srednjoj parazitemiji bila&nbsp; je&nbsp; značajna&nbsp; takođe&nbsp; između stanarica i delimičnih selica.</p> / <p>Avian&nbsp; haemosporidians&nbsp; are&nbsp; vector-transmitted blood&nbsp; parasites&nbsp; distributed&nbsp; worldwide,&nbsp; abundant in&nbsp; many&nbsp; bird&nbsp; families&nbsp; and&nbsp; well-studied&nbsp; across Europe and&nbsp; North&nbsp; America.&nbsp; Since&nbsp; avian&nbsp; hemosporidians&nbsp; were&nbsp; poorly&nbsp; examined&nbsp; in&nbsp; the Palearctic&nbsp; migratory&nbsp; flyways&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; Western Balkans, the goal of this study was to&nbsp; investigate what&nbsp; species&nbsp; of&nbsp; three&nbsp; haemosporidian&nbsp; genera<em> Plasmodium,</em>&nbsp; <em>Haemoproteus</em>&nbsp; and&nbsp;<em> Leucocytozoon</em> infect&nbsp; both&nbsp; resident&nbsp; and&nbsp; migratory&nbsp; passerine birds in Serbia. The&nbsp; prevalence, distribution and parasitemia&nbsp; of&nbsp; avian&nbsp;&nbsp; haemosporidian&nbsp; infections were&nbsp; screened&nbsp; using&nbsp; both&nbsp; nested&nbsp; PCR&nbsp; method and microscopy observation. Out of 202 sampled birds&nbsp; at&nbsp; seven&nbsp; localities,&nbsp; 66&nbsp; were&nbsp; positive&nbsp; for haemosporidians.&nbsp; Total&nbsp; prevalence&nbsp; was&nbsp; 32.7%. Great majority of infected birds (29 individuals) had&nbsp; moderate&nbsp; level&nbsp; of&nbsp; parasitemia.&nbsp; The&nbsp; most abundant&nbsp; haemosporidian&nbsp; genus&nbsp; was Haemoproteus&nbsp; with&nbsp; prevalence&nbsp; of&nbsp; 26.1%.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All infected&nbsp; birds&nbsp; were&nbsp; adults,&nbsp; whereas&nbsp; none&nbsp; of tested&nbsp; juveniles&nbsp; were&nbsp; infected.&nbsp; Mixed&nbsp; infection was recorded only in one bird. We identified 31 genetic&nbsp; lineages&nbsp; of&nbsp; haemosporidian&nbsp; parasites. Two new cytochrome&nbsp; b&nbsp; lineages of&nbsp; <em>Plasmodium</em> and&nbsp;<em> Leucocytozoon</em>&nbsp; were identified and found in hosts Common Chaffinch (<em>Fringilla coelebs</em>) and Golden&nbsp; Oriole&nbsp; (<em>Oriolus&nbsp; oriolus)</em>.&nbsp; We&nbsp; identified three&nbsp; new&nbsp; host&nbsp; records&nbsp; for&nbsp; previously&nbsp; known lineages.&nbsp; The&nbsp; lineage&nbsp; GRW06&nbsp; (<em>Plasmodium elongatum</em>)&nbsp; occurred&nbsp; in&nbsp; Common&nbsp; Chaffinch, while&nbsp; the&nbsp; lineages&nbsp; PARUS20&nbsp; and&nbsp; PARUS25 (<em>Leucocytozoon sp</em>.) were recorded in Willow Tit (<em>Poecile&nbsp;</em> <em>montanus</em>)&nbsp; and&nbsp; Crested&nbsp; Tit (<em>Lophophanes cristatus)</em>,&nbsp; respectively. We found statistically&nbsp; significant&nbsp; differences&nbsp; in&nbsp; the prevalence&nbsp; of&nbsp; three&nbsp; haemosporidian&nbsp; genera among resident and partial migratory birds.&nbsp; The difference&nbsp; in&nbsp; mean&nbsp; parasitemia&nbsp; was&nbsp; significant only between resident and partial migrants.</p>

As Neotropical migratory birds, Prothonotary Warblers are exposed to parasites in both tropical and temperate regions and may act as dispersal agents between geographic areas. This study identifies the prevalence of Haemosporidia, West Nile Virus (WNV), and St. Louis Encephalitis virus (SLEV) in this species. A total of 71.6% of captured Prothonotary Warblers were infected with Haemosporidia during the 2008 breeding season, and infection prevalence increased throughout the season. This temporal change in prevalence is likely due to infection relapse and transmission of new infections. No correlations between reproductive effort and infection status were observed, nor were any associations between infection prevalence and nest box location identified. WNV and SLEV were present in 37.5% and 6.3% of sampled Prothonotary Warblers, respectively. These results warrant more detailed analyses of pathogen transmission dynamics in this population, physiological mechanisms that affect infection susceptibility, and spatial and temporal trends in infection that may exist.

Avian malaria is a devastating disease that has decimated numerous bird species. This study sought to identify the vectors of avian malaria at four central Virginia Prothonotary warbler breeding sites. Twenty one thousand mosquitoes were collected and Culex salinarius, Cx. erraticus, and Cx. pipiens/restuans were found to be the dominant species at these sites. Geographic factors, such as crop land and forest type, were determined to be potential indicators for species abundance variation between sites. Of the mosquitoes collected, ninety one (0.4%) were identified as blood fed. The blood fed mosquitoes were found to have fed on avian, mammalian, amphibian, and reptilian hosts and a 12.1% Plasmodium infection rate. Of the non-blood fed mosquito pools tested, Deep Bottom had the highest rate of infection (10.5%). Of the species tested, Cx. salinarius, Cx. erraticus, and Cx. pipiens/restuans were determined to be the most probable vectors of avian malaria the four sites.

Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-18T13:31:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 rafaelavenanconimatoso.pdf: 1534422 bytes, checksum: 647314733191f67cf9c4d4e4d5641e6e (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: on 2017-08-24T11:28:54Z (GMT) / Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-24T13:09:46Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-08-30T12:27:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-30T12:27:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / O objetivo deste estudo foi realizar caracterização multidisciplinar da espécie Haemoproteus (Haemoproteus) paramultipigmentatus e avaliar a prevalência de Haemoproteus spp. em aves Columbiformes coletadas na Mata Altântica da Zona da Mata mineira. Esse é o primeiro registro dessa espécie no Brasil e nos hospedeiros Columbiformes, Leptotila verreauxi e Columbina talpacoti. Algumas características morfológicas e morfométricas diferiram da descrição original, como por exemplo, a área do núcleo do eritrócito parasitado por macrogametócitos, gametócitos podem tocar a membrana e o núcleo do eritrócito ao mesmo tempo, área do microgametócitos e presença de vacúolos em gametócitos jovens. As linhagens H. paramultipigmentatus obtidas neste estudo, se agruparam em um clado monofilético, com elevado valor de suporte (98/1.0), contendo outras linhagens desta espécie obtidas em estudos prévios. Dentre as 76 aves analisadas (63 C. talpacoti, 13 L. verreauxi), 48 estavam parasitadas por Haemoproteus spp. (prevalência total de 63,15%) e dessas, 26 estavam parasitadas pela espécie H. paramultipigmentatus (prevalência de 34,21%). Foram estimados também dados inéditos sobre prevalência, parasitemia e agregação de Haemoproteus paramultipigmentatus para os 24 meses de coletas das aves, realizadas na seca e chuva sendo a prevalência no período de seca menor 24,32% que no período chuvoso 40,47%. O índice de agregação na seca (0,821) foi maior que aquele registrado no verão (0,762). O trabalho apresenta novos dados sobre hospedeiros, morfologia, biologia molecular, filogenia e ecologia para uma população H. paramultipigmentatus encontrada na Mata Atlântica e ressalta importância de caracterizações multidisciplinares para conhecimento da diversidade de hemosporídeos aviários. / The aim of this study was to realize a multidisciplinary characterization of Haemoproteus (Haemoproteus) paramultipigmentatus and to evaluate the prevalence of Haemoproteus spp. in Columbiform birds, collected in Atlantic Forest, Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais. This, is the first record of this species in Brazil and in the Columbiformes species, Leptotila verreauxi and Columbina talpacoti. Some characteristics morphological and morphometric differed from the original description, such as: the area of the nucleus in erythrocyte parasitized by macrogametocytes, gametocytes touching envelope and erythrocyte nucleus at the same time, microgametocytes area and the presence of vacuoles in young gametocytes. H. paramultipigmentatus lineages obtained in this study, were grouped in a monophyletic clade, with a high support value (98 / 1.0), containing other lineages of this species, obtained in previous studies. Among the 76 birds analyzed (63 C. talpacoti, 13 L. verreauxi), 48 were parasitized by Haemoproteus spp. (Total prevalence 63.15%). Of these, 26 were parasitized by H. paramultipigmentatus (prevalence of 34.21%). It was also estimated, for the first time, data on prevalence, parasitemia and aggregation of Haemoproteus paramultipigmentatus, during 24 months. These data were carried out in the dry and rainy seasons. The prevalence in the period of dry is smaller (24.32%) than in the rainy (40,47%). The aggregation index in dry (0.821) was higher than that registered in rainy (0.762). This study presents new data on host, morphology, molecular biology, phylogeny, and ecology for an H. paramultipigmentatus population found in the Atlantic Forest and emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary characterizations to know the diversity of avian hemosporids.