The reproductive success of American kestrels (Falco sparverius) infected with Trichinella pseudospiralis was significantly reduced when compared with uninfected controls. Egg laying was delayed, and infected females produced fewer eggs than uninfected controls. Infected females were more aggressive and copulated less frequently. Egg breakage among infected birds was greater than among controls. Infected females tended to lay eggs outside the nest box. Infected females did not incubate as frequently as the controls, thus accounting for the higher prevalence of embryo mortality among these birds. The above effects translated into a mean production of 2.1 hatchlings per control pair and 0.6 per infected pair of kestrel. Both in breeding and non-breeding kestrel, T. pseudospiralis infections gave rise to a general decline in mobility. Behavioural effects are primarily attributable to the presence of muscle larvae. The parasite showed no predilection for specific muscle groups.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59597 |
| Date | January 1986 |
| Creators | Saumier, Michèle Dominique |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Institute of Parasitology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000550553, proquestno: AAIMM63758, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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