Abstract
Birds can harbour various haematozoan parasites whose diversity and prevalence are affected by ecological interactions among hosts, parasites and their vectors, and thus differ between the bird populations. As haematozoan parasites can pose a negative effect on individuals health and breeding success, in this study we focused on the three most common genera, Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon, in a wild population of the common kingfisher Alcedo atthis. Fieldwork was conducted during the years 2016–2018 in the Danube River system in south-western Slovakia, where populations of the dipteran vectors are overgrowing each summer. Together we obtained blood samples from 85 adult birds, 49 males and 36 females, but no blood parasites were found in any individual examined. A possible explanation may be given by the nest type and its location since kingfisher’s nests are located in riverbanks, what is a few levels below the main zone of occurrence of ornithophilic biting insects and they are also closed up, what could lessen the presence of the vectors as well.
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Acknowledgements
We thank to P. Čech, P. Mikulíček and A. Šujanová for their help and advice in fieldwork, molecular procedures and manuscript preparation. Finally, we’d also like to express gratitude to reviewer and editor for their comments and suggestions.
Funding
Research was supported by grant LIFE12 NAT/SK/001137, UK/138/2019, UK/162/2020.
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Study methods comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed. Permissions to carry out the study were granted by the relevant national authorities of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic.
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Cepková, M., Melišková , M. & Rubáčová, L. No evidence of the presence of blood parasites in the Danube population of the common kingfisher Alcedo atthis in Slovakia. Biologia 77, 2251–2254 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01081-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01081-z