Low intensity blood parasite infections do not reduce the aerobic performance of migratory birds
Low intensity blood parasite infections do not reduce the aerobic performance of migratory birds
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2017.2307
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发表时间：
2018-01-31
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Buttemer, William A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hahn, Steffen;Bauer, Silke;Buttemer, William A.
血液寄生虫（血孢子虫）被认为会损害受感染动物的飞行性能，因此，预计受感染的鸟类在迁移能力方面与未受感染的鸟类不同。由于血孢子虫侵入宿主红细胞，因此通常认为受感染的个体会损害有氧能力，但这尚未在自由生活的鸟类中进行检查。我们测试了血孢子虫感染是否影响有氧性能，通过检查代谢率和运动耐力在迁徙大苇莺（Acrocephalus arundinaceus）实验治疗疟原虫pGRW04和自然感染的野生鸟类在连续的生活史阶段。我们发现急性或慢性感染对实验处理或自由生活的鸟类的静息代谢率、最大代谢率或运动耐力没有影响。在受感染和未受感染的鸟类中，从繁殖到迁移阶段，休息期间和进行最大运动时的耗氧率以及运动耐力都有所增加。重要的是，与准备迁移相关的表型变化同样不受寄生虫血症的影响。因此，经历慢性感染的典型寄生虫血症水平的候鸟在迁徙能力上与未感染的候鸟没有区别。因此，如果感染的主机不同于未感染的同种迁移物候，其他机制，除了有氧能力应予以考虑。
Blood parasites (Haemosporidia) are thought to impair the flight performance of infected animals, and therefore, infected birds are expected to differ from their non-infected counterparts in migratory capacity. Since haemosporidians invade host erythrocytes, it is commonly assumed that infected individuals will have compromised aerobic capacity, but this has not been examined in free-living birds. We tested if haemosporidian infections affect aerobic performance by examining metabolic rates and exercise endurance in migratory great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) experimentally treated with Plasmodiumrelictum pGRW04 and in naturally infected wild birds over consecutive life-history stages. We found no effect of acute or chronic infections on resting metabolic rate, maximum metabolic rate or exercise endurance in either experimentally treated or free-living birds. Oxygen consumption rates during rest and while undergoing maximum exercise as well as exercise endurance increased from breeding to migration stages in both infected and non-infected birds. Importantly, phenotypic changes associated with preparation for migration were similarly unaffected by parasitaemia. Consequently, migratory birds experiencing parasitaemia levels typical of chronic infection do not differ in migratory capacity from their uninfected counterparts. Thus, if infected hosts differ from uninfected conspecifics in migration phenology, other mechanisms besides aerobic capacity should be considered.