DOES PREENING BEHAVIOR REDUCE THE PREVALENCE OF AVIAN FEATHER LICE (PHTHIRAPTERA: ISCHNOCERA)?
DOES PREENING BEHAVIOR REDUCE THE PREVALENCE OF AVIAN FEATHER LICE (PHTHIRAPTERA: ISCHNOCERA)?
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DOI：
10.1645/23-2
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发表时间：
2023-06-01
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Clayton, Dale H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bush, Sarah E.;Clayton, Dale H.
动物通过多种方式保护自己免受寄生虫侵害。防御，例如生理免疫反应，能够清除某些感染。然而，不以血液为食的外部寄生虫不受生理免疫系统的控制。相反，像食羽毛虱子（Phthiraptera：Ischnocera）这样的体外寄生虫主要是通过梳理毛发等行为防御来控制的。在这里，我们测试了这样一个假设：能够梳理羽毛的鸟类能够清除羽毛虱子的侵扰。我们通过实验控制了一群圈养岩鸽（Columba livia）的梳理能力，这些岩鸽感染了相同数量的羽虱（Columbicola columbae 或 Campanulotes compar 或两者）。然后我们监测了 42 周的羽虱感染情况。在整个实验过程中，梳理受损的鸟类仍然受到感染；相比之下，能够正常梳理羽毛的鸟类身上的虱子患病率下降了 50%。这些数据表明，鸟类确实有可能通过梳理羽毛来清除自身的羽虱，或许还有其他体外寄生虫。然而，我们注意到，圈养鸟类比野生鸟类花费更多的时间进行梳理，而且它们比野生鸟类更不可能再次感染。因此，有必要进行更多的研究来确定在什么情况下野鸟可以通过梳理来清除自己的体外寄生虫。
Animals defend themselves against parasites in many ways. Defenses, such as physiological immune responses, are capable of clearing some infections. External parasites that do not feed on blood, however, are not controlled by the physiological immune system. Instead, ectoparasites like featherfeeding lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) are primarily controlled by behavioral defenses such as preening. Here we test the hypothesis that birds able to preen are capable of clearing infestations of feather lice. We experimentally manipulated preening ability in a captive population of rock pigeons (Columba livia) that were infested with identical numbers of feather lice (Columbicola columbae or Campanulotes compar or both). We then monitored the feather louse infestations for 42 wk. Birds with impaired preening remained infested throughout the experiment; in contrast, the prevalence of lice on birds that could preen normally decreased by 50%. These data indicate that it is indeed possible for birds to clear themselves of feather lice, and perhaps other ectoparasites, by preening. We note, however, that captive birds spend more time preening than wild birds, and that they are less likely to be reinfested than wild birds. Thus, additional studies are necessary to determine under what circumstances wild birds can clear themselves of ectoparasites by preening.