First Morphological Phylogeny of Avian Haemosporidians (Editor´s Choice)

The traditional classification of avian Haemosporida is based mainly on morphology and life history traits. Recently, molecular hypotheses have challenged the traditional classification, leading to contradictory opinions on whether morphology is phylogenetically informative. However, the morphology has never been used to reconstruct the relationships within the group. We inferred the phylogeny of avian Haemosporida from 133 morphological characters present in blood stages. We included all species with at least one mitochondrial gene characterized (n = 93). In order to recover the evolutionary history and identify phylogenetically and taxonomically informative characters, they were mapped on the total evidence phylogeny. We identified a unique combination of morphological traits, clearly differentiating avian Haemosporida genera, sub-genera of Leucocytozoon and Haemoproteus, and some Plasmodium sub-genera. Plasmodium had the highest number of synapomorphies. Furthermore, 86% of the species presented a unique combination of taxonomically informative characters. The combination of morphology and mtDNA proved to be a robust alternative to reconstruct the relationships among avian Haemosporida, obtaining a resolution and support similar to that obtained using full mitochondrial genome sequences for over 100 lineages.

Citation: Hernández-Lara C, Espinosa de los Monteros A, Ibarra-Cerdeña CN, García-Feria L, Santiago-Alarcon D. 2018. Combining morphological and molecular data to reconstruct the phylogeny of avian Haemosporida. International Journal for Parasitology 48: 1137-1148

BIRD RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION AT DIFFERENT LAND USE TYPES

Studying the anthropogenic components of landscapes can provide a solid groundwork to better understand ecological patterns and processes. In this study, we assessed bird species richness and composition in 5 different environmental conditions (well-preserved cloud forest, peri-urban forest, urban greenspace, shade coffee plantation, and cattle ranch) embedded in a landscape whose original vegetation was tropical montane cloud forest. Our results showed that the most similar vegetation structure and physiognomy were peri-urban forest and shade coffee plantation, with urban

greenspaces comprising a highly different condition. Regarding species richness, we found no differences for the nonbreeding season (average values 32.9–41.8), but we did find statistical differences for the breeding season (average values 24.5–43.7); highest species richness was recorded for well-preserved cloud forest (43.7 calculated species), which was significantly different from shade coffee plantation (lowest species richness value 24.5) and urban greenspaces (29 calculated species). These results support the idea that during the nonbreeding season, when habitat requirements are less strict, species distribute homogeneously across the landscape, whereas species tend to be more selective and concentrated in original forests during the breeding season. Community composition during the breeding season showed a .40% similarity cluster composed of well-preserved cloud forest, shade coffee plantation, and cattle ranch. In the nonbreeding season, however, 2 clusters were formed at ~30% similarity: (1) urban greenspaces and cattle ranch; and (2) peri-urban forest, shade coffee plantation, and well-preserved cloud forest. Our results highlight the overall negative effect of urbanization on breeding bird species richness and composition, as well as the importance of having large patches of well-preserved cloud forests in sheltering high bird diversity.

The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 130(1):81–93, 2018

URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1676/16-087.1

Mosquito Blood Feeding

We analyzed mosquito blood meals at places with different land use types, finding generalist feeding patterns by several mosquito species. Moreover, we found that mosquitoes infected with avian haemosporidian DNA were readily feeding on humans across different sites in the local landscape. This study provides further support towards current findings suggesting that Diptera vectors are actually not that specialized on host groups, but rather can have plastic preferences

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parint.2018.01.006

A total of 2536 adult mosquitoes were collected, belonging to 9 genera and 10 species; the dominant species in the study were: Aedes quadrivittatus, Wyeomyia adelpha, Wy. arthrostigma, and Culex restuans. Highest richness was recorded in the dry season, whereas higher abundance was detected during the rainy season. The urban forest had the highest species richness (n = 7) when compared to all other sites. Species composition cluster analyses show that there is a high degree of similarity in species numbers across sites and seasons throughout the year. However, when considering the abundance of such species, the well-preserved montane cloud forest showed significantly higher abundance. Moreover, the urban forest is only 30 % similar to other sites in terms of species abundances, indicating a possible isolating role of the urban environment. Mosquito assemblage was differentially influenced by land-use change and seasonality, but at the same time the assemblage is rather homogeneous across the studied landscape, suggesting a high degree of spatial connectivity. Information generated in this study is potentially useful in the development of urban planning and surveillance programs focused mainly on mosquito species of medical and veterinary importance.DOI 10.1186/s13071-015-1086-9

All haemosporidian infections in chestnut-capped brush finches belonged to Haemoproteus and Plasmodium species. Prevalence and parasitaemia of avian malaria were higher during the rainy season, while aggrega-tion remained similar. Both prevalence and parasitaemia were higher in the urban forest. Prevalence was lower in the well-preserved cloud forest during the dry season. Parasitaemia was negatively associated to bush cover. Our results suggest that an increase in land use intensity reduces seasonal fluctuations in parasite transmission, and that infections are more frequent and more severe for birds inhabiting urban environments. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.05.025 

Avian Malaria Responses to Different Forestry Practices and Habitat Structure

We used, to our knowledge for the first time, continuous forest structural parameters to quantify habitat structure, and found significant effects of habitat structure on parasite prevalence that previously have been undetected. We found three times higher prevalence for blackcaps compared with chaffinches. Parasite intensity varied significantly within host species depending on forest type, being lowest in beech forests for both host species. Structurally complex habitats with a high degree of entropy had a positive effect on the likelihood of acquiring an infection, but the effect on prevalence was negative for forest sections with a south facing aspect. For blackcaps, forest gaps also had a positive effect on prevalence, but canopy height had a negative one. Our results suggest that forest types and variations in forest structure influence the likelihood of acquiring an infection, which subsequently has an influence on host health status and body condition; however, responses to some environmental factors are host-specific. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2016.04.008

Eyeless Rays in the Gulf of Mexico: a new species?

Additionally to the eyeless characteristic, both regular (presence of eye) and eyeless (absence of eye) morphotypes have contrasting quantitative values and qualitative features for different phenotypic traits (color, teeth number, pelvic fin and spiracle form). Mature female and male eyeless morphotype had functional internal reproductive structures. Using the bar code gene, we found conclusive evidence that the eyeless morphotype belongs to the species D. americana. This is the first report on reproductively functional eyeless individuals of this species or close relatives elsewhere, which live sympatrically with regular D. americana individuals in the southern Gulf of Mexico. 

 DOI: 10.3856/vol44-issue3-fulltext-x