Winter Temperature Affects the Prevalence of Ticks in an Arctic Seabird
Open Access
- 4 June 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 8 (6), e65374
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065374
Abstract
The Arctic is rapidly warming and host-parasite relationships may be modified by such environmental changes. Here, I showed that the average winter temperature in Svalbard, Arctic Norway, explained almost 90% of the average prevalence of ticks in an Arctic seabird, the Brünnich’s guillemot Uria lomvia. An increase of 1°C in the average winter temperature at the nesting colony site was associated with a 5% increase in the number of birds infected by these ectoparasites in the subsequent breeding season. Guillemots were generally infested by only a few ticks (≤5) and I found no direct effect of tick presence on their body condition and breeding success. However, the strong effect of average winter temperature described here clearly indicates that tick-seabird relationships in the Arctic may be strongly affected by ongoing climate warming.Keywords
This publication has 29 references indexed in Scilit:
- Arctic parasitology: why should we care?Trends in Parasitology, 2011
- Worldwide Distribution and Diversity of Seabird Ticks: Implications for the Ecology and Epidemiology of Tick-Borne PathogensVector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2011
- The parasitic tick Ixodes uriae (Acari: Ixodidae) on seabirds from Spitsbergen, SvalbardPolar Research, 2009
- Short Note: Increase in feeding by the tick, Ixodes uriae, on Adélie penguins during a prolonged summerAntarctic Science, 2008
- Infectious Offspring: How Birds Acquire and Transmit an Avian Polyomavirus in the WildPLOS ONE, 2007
- Recurrent evolution of host-specialized races in a globally distributed parasiteProceedings Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 2005
- Heat and mosquitoes cause breeding failures and adult mortality in an Arctic‐nesting seabirdIbis, 2002
- Hyperinfestation by Ticks Ixodes uriae: A Possible Cause of Death in Adult King Penguins, a Long-Lived SeabirdColonial Waterbirds, 1998
- The abundance and effects of ticks (Ixodes uriae) on nestling Cassin's Auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) at Triangle Island, British ColumbiaCanadian Journal of Zoology, 1996
- The activity periods and life-cycle of the tick Ixodes uriae (Acari: Ixodidae) in relation to host breeding strategiesParasitology, 1996