Letter

Establishment of exotic parasites: the origins and characteristics of an avian malaria community in an isolated island avifauna

  1. John G. Ewen1,*,
  2. Staffan Bensch2,
  3. Tim M. Blackburn1,3,
  4. Camille Bonneaud4,5,
  5. Ruth Brown1,
  6. Phillip Cassey6,
  7. Rohan H. Clarke7,
  8. Javier Pérez-Tris8

Article first published online: 12 JUL 2012

DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01833.x

Issue

Ecology Letters

Ecology Letters

Volume 15, Issue 10, pages 1112–1119, October 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Ecology Letters (2012) 15: 1112–1119

Author Information

  1. 1

    Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK

  2. 2

    Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

  3. 3

    Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Program, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  4. 4

    Station d'Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, USR 2936, Moulis, France

  5. 5

    Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Cornwall, UK

  6. 6

    School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

  7. 7

    School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia

  8. 8

    Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

*Correspondence: E-mails: john.ewen@ioz.ac.uk; jperez@bio.ucm.es

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 5 SEP 2012
  2. Article first published online: 12 JUL 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 14 JUN 2012
  4. Manuscript Revised: 11 MAY 2012
  5. Manuscript Received: 10 APR 2012

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Keywords:

  • Avian malaria;
  • introduced birds;
  • introduction success;
  • invasive parasites;
  • New Zealand

Abstract

Knowledge of the processes favouring the establishment of exotic parasites is poor. Herein, we test the characteristics of successful exotic parasites that have co-established in the remote island archipelago of New Zealand, due to the introduction of numerous avian host species. Our results show that avian malaria parasites (AM; parasites of the genus Plasmodium) that successfully invaded are more globally generalist (both geographically widespread and with a broad taxonomic range of hosts) than AM parasites not co-introduced to New Zealand. Furthermore, the successful AM parasites are presently more prevalent in their native range than AM parasites found in the same native range but not co-introduced to New Zealand. This has resulted in an increased number and greater taxonomic diversity of AM parasites now in New Zealand.

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