Sticklebacks infected by the parasitic flatworm Schistocephalus solidus show dramatic changes in phenotype, including a loss of species-typical behavioural responses to predators. The timing of host behaviour change coincides with the development of infectivity of the parasite to the final host (a piscivorous bird), making it an ideal model for studying the mechanisms of infection-induced behav...

Plasmodium-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers allowed detection of infections with very low-level parasitemia for 3 species of malaria parasites infecting Anolis lizards at 2 Caribbean sites, Puerto Rico and Saba, Netherlands Antilles. A verification study, using a single-tube nested PCR to eliminate contamination, showed that infections as low as 1 parasite per millions of erythr...

The unicellular blood parasites in the order Haemosporida are highly diverse, infect many vertebrates, are responsible for a large disease burden among humans and animals, and have reemerged as an important model system to understand the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of host-parasite interactions. The phylogenetics and systematics of Haemosporida are limited by poor sampling of different...

Testosterone often mediates trade-offs between reproduction and other life-history traits, which are usually investigated using testosterone implants. However, this approach does not distinguish between the physiological and behavioral effects of testosterone. We studied a wild game bird, the red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus, and took a new approach to investigate mechanisms linking elevated...

Avian malaria studies have taken a prominent place in different aspects of evolutionary ecology. Despite a recent interest in the role of vectors within the complex interaction system of the malaria parasite, they have largely been ignored in most epidemiological studies. Epidemiology of the disease is however strongly related to the vector's ecology and behaviour, and there is a need for basic...

Small and isolated populations usually exhibit low levels of genetic variability, and thus, they are expected to have a lower capacity to adapt to changes in environmental conditions, such as exposure to pathogens and parasites. Comparing the genetic variability of selectively neutral versus functional loci allows one to assess the evolutionary history of populations and their future evolutiona...

Strigea macropharynx sp. n. (Trematoda : Strigeata, Strigeidae), an intestinal parasite of Falco rusticolus L., is described. Falconiformes harbor two species of Strigea (S. falconis Szidat, 1928, and S. macroconophora Dubois and Rausch, 1950) with vitellaria terminating near the copulatory bursa. Both differ from the new species in having a pharynx that is smaller than or subequal to the bucca...

Host-parasite interactions have been hypothesized to affect the evolution of dispersal by providing a possibility for hosts to escape debilitating parasites, and by influencing the level of local adaptation. We used a comparative approach to investigate the relationship between a component of host immune function (which reflects the evolutionary history of parasite-induced natural selection) an...

Parasites and pathogens are possibly key evolutionary forces driving recognition systems. However, empirical evidence remains sparse. The ubiquitous pioneering ant Formica fusca is exploited by numerous socially parasitic ant species. We compared the chemical cue diversity, egg and nest mate recognition abilities in two Finnish and two UK populations where parasite pressure is high or absent, r...