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Effect of suboptimal environment and host age on helminth community of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix)

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Abstract

Helminths have often been considered responsible in driving partially wildlife population density fluctuations; therefore more information have to be achieved when target hosts are endangered or threatened species, such as black grouse (Tetrao tetrix). During 8 years (2003–2010), we collected and analyzed 431 intestinal contents of hunted black grouse from Central Alps (Verbania), recording age, body weights, biometric measures, and the culling site to investigate (1) their helminth community structure, (2) how much infection varies in relation to age class and to prealpine and alpine origin area, and (3) if parasites may act as population destabilizing factors. The helminth community is composed by two nematodes Ascaridia compar and Aonchotheca caudinflata. A. compar is the predominant species, and a significant higher intensity of both helminths is recorded in juveniles. A. caudinflata has a negative effect on weights of all the population subjects (p < 0.001), independently of age and origin area. Prealpine population, characterized by significantly lower weights than those of the alpine ones (p < 0.05), is found more infected by both helminths, with also a negative impact (p < 0.001) of A. compar recorded on prealpine adults’ weights. The negative effect noticed for A. caudinflata emphasizes its pathogenicity and shows that this infection can be considered a further stressor for the studied population. Moreover, A. compar affects essentially adults in prealpine area and this fact, together with the major infection of the entire prealpine population, supports the hypothesis that habitat characteristics play a role in the infectious process.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to “ALCOTRA: Italy–France Alpine Grouse” Interreg Project that gave us the opportunity to carry out this research. We wish to thank all the hunters of the Alpine hunting territory in the province of Verbania for their help in the field activities and Ilaria Marangi for her invaluable suggestions that improved the drafting of this paper.

Ethical declaration

I, the undersigned, Nicoletta Formenti, declare that all the experiments used in the previous manuscript comply with the current Italian laws.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Sciences and Public Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Nicoletta Formenti, Roberto Viganò, Nicola Ferrari, Maria Chiara Cerutti & Paolo Lanfranchi

  2. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Tennerbacherstr. 4 D-9, 79106, Freiburg, Germany

    Luca Rotelli

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  1. Nicoletta Formenti
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  2. Roberto Viganò
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  4. Nicola Ferrari
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  5. Maria Chiara Cerutti
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  6. Paolo Lanfranchi
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Correspondence to Nicoletta Formenti.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Formenti, N., Viganò, R., Rotelli, L. et al. Effect of suboptimal environment and host age on helminth community of black grouse (Tetrao tetrix). Eur J Wildl Res 59, 351–358 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-012-0681-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-012-0681-8

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