Journal of Ornithology

, 151:27 | Cite as

High prevalence of haemosporidians in Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus in Spain

  • Mónica Fernández
  • Mª. Ángeles Rojo
  • Patricia Casanueva
  • Silvia Carrión
  • Mª. Ángeles Hernández
  • Francisco Campos
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

Apicomplexan blood parasites (genera Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon) prevalence in two related species (Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Sedge Warbler A. schoenobaenus) was studied in 2006 at the Natural Reserve of Castronuño-Vega del Duero, Western Spain, a stopover area during the autumn migration. A fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of the parasites was amplified, using a nested PCR assay, from avian blood samples. High prevalence of malaria parasites was found in both species, 84.6% in Reed Warbler and 71.8% in Sedge Warbler, and the degree of infection reach 100% of the population that breed at the Reserve, suggesting good conditions for the development of dipteran vectors in this area. By sequencing 464 nucleotides of the obtained fragments, we found four different mitochondrial haplotypes of Haemoproteus or Plasmodium in the two species analysed. Leucocytozoon infection was not detected, in contrast to the high prevalence of this parasite in other avian species in Spain, probably because the water course studied is not an adequate habitat for its vectors.

Keywords

Acrocephalus Avian malaria Haemosporidians Spain 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was financed by Obra Social of Caja España. Our thanks to Alberto Galán and Cristina Miranda for their enthusiastic and efficient assistance on the field and to Ana Amezcua, Barbara Gutiérrez and Yolanda Fernández for their lab and statistics studies. The Castilla and León Regional Government provided the official permits for bird capturing. The Centro Meteorólogico of Castilla and León provided the meteorological data. We thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Dt. Ornithologen-Gesellschaft e.V. 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Mónica Fernández
    • 1
  • Mª. Ángeles Rojo
    • 1
  • Patricia Casanueva
    • 1
  • Silvia Carrión
    • 1
  • Mª. Ángeles Hernández
    • 2
  • Francisco Campos
    • 1
  1. 1.European University Miguel de CervantesValladolidSpain
  2. 2.Department of Zoology and Ecology, School of SciencesUniversity of NavarraPamplonaSpain

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