Aromatic plants in blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests: no negative effect on blood-sucking Protocalliphora blow fly larvae
نویسندگان
چکیده
A. Mennerat (correspondence), P. Perret and M. M. Lambrechts, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, 1919 Route de Mende, Cedex 5, 34293 Montpellier, France. E-mail: [email protected]. S. P. Caro, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P.O. Box 40, 6666 ZG Heteren, The Netherlands. P. Heeb, Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique (bât. IVR3), Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France.
منابع مشابه
Vector abundance determines Trypanosoma prevalence in nestling blue tits.
The effect of insect vectors on avian exposure to infection by pathogens remains poorly studied. Here, we used an insect repellent treatment to reduce the number of blood-sucking flying insects in blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests and examined its effect on nestling health status measured as body mass, nestling phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) response and blood parasite prevalence. We found that (i)...
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A Corsican population of blue tits (Parus caeruleus) suffers extremely high levels of infestation by two species of blow flies (genus Protocalliphora) that have been suspected to influence the life-history traits of their hosts. By quantifying the abundance of the blow fly larvae infesting each brood of this population during 2 consecutive years, we showed that the distribution of these parasit...
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Some avian species incorporate aromatic plants to their nests. The "nest protection hypothesis", which posits that volatile secondary compounds contained in these plants may have antiparasite properties, has not received full support. All previous tests of this hypothesis have only considered effects on nest-dwelling ectoparasites, but not on blood-sucking flies. The "drug hypothesis" posits th...
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Although the use of olfaction by birds is now widely recognised, the olfactory abilities of passerine birds remain poorly explored, for historical reasons. Several studies however suggest that passerines can perceive volatile compounds in several biologically relevant contexts. In Corsica, recent findings suggest that cavity-nesting blue tits may use volatile compounds in the context of nest bu...
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