Specialist enemies, generalist weapons and the potential spread of exotic pathogens: Malaria parasites in a highly invasive bird

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Accepted Manuscript (AM)

Author(s)
Clark, NJ
Olsson-Pons, S
Ishtiaq, F
Clegg, SM
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2015
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract

Pathogens can influence the success of invaders. The Enemy Release Hypothesis predicts invaders encounter reduced pathogen abundance and diversity, while the Novel Weapons Hypothesis predicts invaders carry novel pathogens that spill over to competitors. We tested these hypotheses using avian malaria (haemosporidian) infections in the invasive myna (Acridotheres tristis), which was introduced to southeastern Australia from India and was secondarily expanded to the eastern Australian coast. Mynas and native Australian birds were screened in the secondary introduction range for haemosporid-ians (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus spp.) and results were combined with published data from the myna’s primary introduction and native ranges. We compared malaria prevalence and diversity across myna populations to test for Enemy Release and used phylogeographic analyses to test for exotic strains acting as Novel Weapons. Introduced mynas carried significantly lower parasite diversity than native mynas and significantly lower Haemoproteus prevalence than native Australian birds. Despite commonly infecting native species that directly co-occur with mynas, Haemoproteus spp. were only recorded in introduced mynas in the primary introduction range and were apparently lost during secondary expan-sion. In contrast, Plasmodium infections were common in all ranges and prevalence was significantly higher in both introduced and native mynas than in native Australian birds. Introduced mynas carried several exotic Plasmodium lineages that were shared with native mynas, some of which also infected native Australian birds and two of which are highly invasive in other bioregions. Our results suggest that introduced mynas may benefit through escape from Haemoproteus spp. while acting as important reser-voirs for Plasmodium spp., some of which are known exotic lineages.

Journal Title

International Journal for Parasitology

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume

45

Issue

14

Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2015 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.

Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Microbiology

Zoology

Veterinary sciences

Medical parasitology

Persistent link to this record
Citation
Collections