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Haematological health assessment in a passerine with extremely high proportion of basophils in peripheral blood

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Abstract

Haematological methods are widely utilised among avian ecologists as a means for individual health assessment. However, the technical simplicity of some of the tests may easily lead to oversimplification of the evaluation. Here, we show in the Scarlet Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus) that haematological parameters other than the widely used heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio may be important to investigate. We give the full description of seven basic haematological traits (leukocyte differential count, immature erythrocyte count, haematocrit, mean cell volume, total red and white blood cell count and blood parasite occurrence). Most remarkably, the examination of 178 adults and 155 nestlings has revealed that this species has an extraordinarily high proportion of basophils among the peripheral blood leukocytes (on average about 42 and 56%, respectively). Although the high basophil count is a general trait even in healthy individuals of this species, the proportion of these cells is condition-dependent and is further increased by Haemoproteus infection. Our results also suggest that the immature erythrocyte count in the peripheral blood is a good predictor of the nestlings’ growth rate. We conclude that the Rosefinch haematology differs strikingly from other avian species with known values of basic haematological parameters. We therefore emphasise the importance of a general haematological examination, based on material obtained by an appropriate method (e.g. for smear preparation, we recommend using differential staining and avoiding prior methanol fixation).

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Drahoslav Pravda and Professor Eva Straková for their remarks to the haematological methods adopted in this study. We would also like to appreciate the help from Martin Lundák, Lubor Červa, Jaroslav Jelínek, František Zicha, Pavel Jaška, Hana Mrkvičková, Radka Poláková and Marta Promerová with the field work, our special thanks belong to Iva Kratochvílová and Tomáš Lorenc from Šumava National Park and we wish to acknowledge Zdena Csiebreiová for technical assistance. Our gratitude belongs last but not least to Alison Golinski, Martina Pokorná and Dagmar Vinklerová for their comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Grant Agency of Charles University (project 191/2004/B-Bio), the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (project IAA600930608), the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (project 206/06/0851) and the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic (project MSMT No. 0021620828). T.A. was partially supported by the Research Centrum project No. LC06073. The research was approved by Ethical Committee of the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and was carried out in accordance with the current laws of the Czech Republic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Prague, Czech Republic

    Michal Vinkler, Jan Schnitzer, Pavel Munclinger & Tomáš Albrecht

  2. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jan Votýpka

  3. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Michal Vinkler & Tomáš Albrecht

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  1. Michal Vinkler
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Correspondence to Michal Vinkler.

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Communicated by C. G. Guglielmo.

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Vinkler, M., Schnitzer, J., Munclinger, P. et al. Haematological health assessment in a passerine with extremely high proportion of basophils in peripheral blood. J Ornithol 151, 841–849 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0521-0

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