Aromatic plants in blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests: no negative effect on blood-sucking Protocalliphora blow fly larvae. - CNRS - Centre national de la recherche scientifique Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Avian Biology Année : 2008

Aromatic plants in blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests: no negative effect on blood-sucking Protocalliphora blow fly larvae.

Résumé

Nesting birds use several behavioural or physiological defence mechanisms against parasites. On Corsica, female blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) incorporate fresh fragments of a limited number of aromatic plants in the nest cup, from the end of nest construction until fledging. Some of these plants negatively affect bacterial growth and host location by blood-sucking mosquitoes in laboratory conditions. In natural populations, Corsican blue tit chicks are exposed to the highest levels of blood-sucking ectoparasitic blow flies (Protocalliphora sp.) reported in Europe. These ectoparasites can have severe negative effects on chick development and survival probabilities, especially when food constraints are elevated. Here we investigated in several natural Corsican blue tit populations the hypothesis that aromatic plants brought to the nest have anti-blow fly effects during the chick-rearing stage. We predicted that: 1) the amount of aromatic plants should be negatively related to blow fly infestation intensity across nests, 2) experimental addition of aromatic plants in nests should reduce blow fly infestation intensity, and 3) nestlings should be in better physical condition in nests where aromatic plants were experimentally added. No significant relation was found between the amount of aromatic plants in nests and blow fly infestation intensity. Experimental addition of aromatic plants did not reduce blow fly infestation intensity and did not affect the chick phenotypic parameters we measured. We conclude that aromatic plants in blue tit nests are not used as a defence against ectoparasitic Protocalliphora blow flies in our study population.
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Dates et versions

hal-00356533 , version 1 (03-11-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-00356533 , version 1

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Adèle Mennerat, Philippe Perret, Samuel P. Caro, Heeb Philipp, Marcel M. Lambrechts. Aromatic plants in blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests: no negative effect on blood-sucking Protocalliphora blow fly larvae.. Journal of Avian Biology, 2008, 39, pp.127-132. ⟨hal-00356533⟩
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