Altitudinal variation in haemosporidian parasite distribution in great tit populations

Parasites & Vectors

Table 2 Mean avian haemosporidian prevalences in great tits at three altitudes in Switzerland for three breeding seasons

	*Plasmodium*		*Haemoproteus*		*Leucocytozoon*		Total
Location	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n
Low Altitude	86.3	219	2.3	219	70.6	221	95.5	221
Mid Altitude	80.5	77	11.7	77	49.4	81	96.3	81
High Altitude	15.4	26	30.8	26	76.9	26	88.5	26
Total	79.2	322	6.8	322	65.9	328	95.1	328

Prevalence of avian haemosporidian parasite genera (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus & Leucocytozoon) in great tits (Parus major) at three altitudinally separate sites for three consecutive breeding seasons combined (recaptures are included). The “%” sign represents prevalence of birds infected with avian haemosporidians and “n” indicates the number of individuals sampled. For Plasmodium and Haemoproteus infections at low and mid altitude, the difference in birds sampled to that of total birds sampled is accounted for as the number of multiple infections that could not be assigned to either genus.

ISSN: 1756-3305