Data from: Effects of fleas on nest success of Arctic barnacle geese: experimentally testing the mechanism
Parasites have detrimental effects on their hosts’ fitness. Therefore, behavioural adaptations have evolved to avoid parasites or, when an individual is already in contact with a parasite, prevent or minimize infections. Such anti-parasite behaviours can be very effective, but can also be costly for...
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Zusammenfassung: | Parasites have detrimental effects on their hosts’ fitness. Therefore,
behavioural adaptations have evolved to avoid parasites or, when an
individual is already in contact with a parasite, prevent or minimize
infections. Such anti-parasite behaviours can be very effective, but can
also be costly for the host. Specifically, ectoparasites can elicit strong
host anti-parasite behaviours and interactions between fleas
(Siphonaptera) and their hosts are one of the best studied. In altricial
bird species, nest fleas can negatively affect both parent and offspring
fitness components. However, knowledge on the effects of fleas on
precocial bird species is scarce. Research on geese in the Canadian Arctic
indicated that fleas have a negative impact on reproductive success. One
possible hypothesis is that fleas may affect female incubation behaviour.
Breeding females with many fleas in their nest may increase the frequency
and/or duration of incubation breaks and could even totally desert their
nest. The aim of our study was to 1) determine if a similar negative
relationship existed between flea abundance and reproductive success in
our study colony of Arctic breeding barnacle geese Branta leucopsis and 2)
experimentally quantify if such effects could be explained by a negative
effect of nest fleas on female behaviour. We compared host anti-parasite
and incubation behaviour between experimentally flea-reduced and control
nests using wildlife cameras and temperature loggers. We found that flea
abundance was negatively associated with hatching success. We found little
experimental support, however, for changes in behaviour of the breeding
female as a possible mechanism to explain this effect. |
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DOI: | 10.5061/dryad.80n9608 |