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Migratory behaviour does not alter cophylogenetic congruence between avian hosts and their haemosporidian parasites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2022

Daniela de Angeli Dutra*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Alan Fecchio
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT 78060-900, Brazil
Érika Martins Braga
Affiliation:
Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Robert Poulin
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
*
Author for correspondence: Daniela de Angeli Dutra, E-mail: danideangeli@live.com

Abstract

Parasites display various degrees of host specificity, reflecting different coevolutionary histories with their hosts. Avian hosts follow multiple migration patterns representing short but also long distances. As parasites infecting migratory birds are subjected to multiple environmental and biotic changes through their flyways, migration may disrupt or strengthen cophylogenetic congruence between hosts and parasites. On the one hand, parasites might adapt to a single migratory host, evolving to cope with the specific challenges associated with the multiple habitats occupied by the host. On the other, as migrants can introduce parasites into new habitats, higher rates of host switching could also disrupt cophylogenetic patterns. We analysed whether migratory behaviour shapes avian haemosporidian parasite–host cophylogenetic congruence by testing if contributions of host–parasite links to overall congruence differ among resident and short-, variable- and long-distance migrants globally and within South America only. On both scales, we found significant overall cophylogenetic congruence by testing whether overall congruence differed between haemosporidian lineages and bird species. However, we found no difference in contribution towards congruence among links involving resident vs migratory hosts in both models. Thus, migratory behaviour neither weakens nor strengthens bird–haemosporidian cophylogenetic congruence, suggesting that other avian host traits are more influential in generating phylogenetic congruence in this host–parasite system.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Distribution of sites where haemosporidian parasites have been recorded. A total of ~2200 from 430 sites (including offshore islands) were extracted from the MalAvi database. Colours represent distinct regions worldwide.

Figure 1

Fig. 2. Tanglegram illustrating associations between haemosporidian parasites and their avian hosts from South America. Colours represent host species classified based on their distinct migratory distances: green, short distance; light blue, variable distance and dark blue, long distance. Black labels represent resident birds. Link density, i.e. the frequency of interactions as reported in the MalAvi database, is represented by line thickness: thin links, ≤5 interactions reported; thick links, ≥5.

Figure 2

Fig. 3. Mean (±credible intervals) squared residual of each individual parasite–host link according to the migratory category in which the bird hosts are classified in the global dataset.

Figure 3

Fig. 4. Mean (±credible intervals) squared residual of each individual parasite–host link according to the migratory category in which the bird hosts are classified in the South American dataset.

Figure 4

Table 1. Parameter estimates, standard errors and confidence intervals for the Bayesian model testing the relationship between the cophylogenetic-squares residuals of each parasite–host link involving avian haemosporidian parasites and hosts of different migratory categories in the global dataset (reference level = resident)

Figure 5

Table 2. Parameter estimates, standard errors and confidence intervals for the Bayesian model testing the relationship between the cophylogenetic-squared residuals of each parasite–host link involving avian haemosporidian parasites and hosts of different migratory categories in the South American dataset (reference level = resident)

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