Feather mites are ubiquitous avian ectoparasites whose population structure is expected to vary w... more Feather mites are ubiquitous avian ectoparasites whose population structure is expected to vary with degree of coloniality and other aspects of host bird species' ecology. We investigated aggregation . and infrapopulation structure of feather mites of the genus Alloptes Canestrini on four auk species (with different levels of nesting aggregations) breeding at the Gannet Islands, Labrador, Canada. Feather mite populations were more prevalent and had higher relative abundance in Razorbills, Alca torda Linnaeus, and Atlantic Puffins, Fratercula arctica Linnaeus, compared to murres (Uria spp.). Prevalence increased moving from highly aggregated ledge-nesting hosts (53% in murres) to less aggregated, burrow-nesting hosts (87% in puffins), with similar trends in relative abundance. Prevalence and relative abundance of individual age-classes of feather mites varied among host species without any clear relationship to host coloniality. Infrapopulations were strongly female-biased (4–36% males), with a largeproportion of tritonymphs and adult females. Precopulatory mate guarding was observed in all sevencases of coupled individuals, each involving an adult male and a female tritonymph. This study constitutes the first record of precopulatory mate guarding in the genus Alloptes, a male strategy to ensure insemination of adult females as soon as they molt. Female-biased sex ratios may be produced in order to reduce local mate competition among male feather mites. Our study revealed several nonintuitive patterns of mite population structure, underlining the need for more detailed work on these ecologically important but poorly known species.
Borrelia garinii is the most neurotropic of the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu lato that cau... more Borrelia garinii is the most neurotropic of the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu lato that cause Lyme disease in Europe, where it is transmitted to avian and mammalian reservoir hosts and to humans by Ixodes ricinus. B. garinii is also maintained in an enzootic cycle in seabirds by I. uriae, a tick found at high latitudes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. To determine whether B. garinii is present in seabird ticks on the Atlantic Coast of North America, we examined 261 I. uriae ticks by polyclonal antiborrelial fluorescent antibody. Ten of 61 ticks from Gull Island, Newfoundland, were positive for borreliae by this screen. Amplicons of DNA obtained by PCR that targeted the B. garinii rrs-rrla intergenic spacer were sequenced and matched to GenBank sequences for B. garinii. The potential for introduction of this agent into the North American Lyme disease enzootic is unknown.
Feather mites are ubiquitous avian ectoparasites whose population structure is expected to vary w... more Feather mites are ubiquitous avian ectoparasites whose population structure is expected to vary with degree of coloniality and other aspects of host bird species' ecology. We investigated aggregation . and infrapopulation structure of feather mites of the genus Alloptes Canestrini on four auk species (with different levels of nesting aggregations) breeding at the Gannet Islands, Labrador, Canada. Feather mite populations were more prevalent and had higher relative abundance in Razorbills, Alca torda Linnaeus, and Atlantic Puffins, Fratercula arctica Linnaeus, compared to murres (Uria spp.). Prevalence increased moving from highly aggregated ledge-nesting hosts (53% in murres) to less aggregated, burrow-nesting hosts (87% in puffins), with similar trends in relative abundance. Prevalence and relative abundance of individual age-classes of feather mites varied among host species without any clear relationship to host coloniality. Infrapopulations were strongly female-biased (4–36% males), with a largeproportion of tritonymphs and adult females. Precopulatory mate guarding was observed in all sevencases of coupled individuals, each involving an adult male and a female tritonymph. This study constitutes the first record of precopulatory mate guarding in the genus Alloptes, a male strategy to ensure insemination of adult females as soon as they molt. Female-biased sex ratios may be produced in order to reduce local mate competition among male feather mites. Our study revealed several nonintuitive patterns of mite population structure, underlining the need for more detailed work on these ecologically important but poorly known species.
Borrelia garinii is the most neurotropic of the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu lato that cau... more Borrelia garinii is the most neurotropic of the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu lato that cause Lyme disease in Europe, where it is transmitted to avian and mammalian reservoir hosts and to humans by Ixodes ricinus. B. garinii is also maintained in an enzootic cycle in seabirds by I. uriae, a tick found at high latitudes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. To determine whether B. garinii is present in seabird ticks on the Atlantic Coast of North America, we examined 261 I. uriae ticks by polyclonal antiborrelial fluorescent antibody. Ten of 61 ticks from Gull Island, Newfoundland, were positive for borreliae by this screen. Amplicons of DNA obtained by PCR that targeted the B. garinii rrs-rrla intergenic spacer were sequenced and matched to GenBank sequences for B. garinii. The potential for introduction of this agent into the North American Lyme disease enzootic is unknown.
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