Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Aug;83(2):395-9.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.10-0048.

Vector-host interactions in avian nests: do mosquitoes prefer nestlings over adults?

Nathan D Burkett-Cadena  1 , Russell A Ligon, Mark Liu, Hassan K Hassan, Geoffrey E Hill, Micky D Eubanks, Thomas R Unnasch
Affiliations

Vector-host interactions in avian nests: do mosquitoes prefer nestlings over adults?

Nathan D Burkett-Cadena et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Aug.

Abstract

The hypothesis that nestlings are a significant driver of arbovirus transmission and amplification is based upon findings that suggest nestlings are highly susceptible to being fed upon by vector mosquitoes and to viral infection and replication. Several previous studies have suggested that nestlings are preferentially fed upon relative to adults in the nest, and other studies have reported a preference for adults over nestlings. We directly tested the feeding preference of nestling and adult birds in a natural setting, introducing mosquitoes into nesting boxes containing eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), collecting blood-fed mosquitoes, and matching the source of mosquito blood meals to individual birds using microsatellite markers. Neither nestlings nor adults were fed upon to an extent significantly greater than would be predicted based upon their relative abundance in the nests, although feeding upon mothers decreased as the age of the nestlings increased.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Eastern bluebird nest box with apparatus for introducing mosquitoes. The apparatus consisted of a plastic chamber (containing the mosquitoes), which fits into a plastic funnel inserted into the entrance hole of the best box.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Proportion of mosquitoes introduced into eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) nest boxes with mother and nestling birds (of different ages) that fed on the mother bird, Auburn, Alabama, 2008 and 2009.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Proportion of mosquitoes introduced into eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) nest boxes, which successfully obtained a blood meal, over a range of nestling ages, Auburn, Alabama, 2008 and 2009.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Mother bluebird brooding two-day-old nestlings.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kale HW, Edman JD, Webber LA. Effect of behavior and age of individual ciconiiform birds on mosquito feeding success. Mosq News. 1972;32:343–350.
    1. Blackmore JS, Dow RP. Differential feeding of Culex tarsalis on nesting and adult birds. Mosq News. 1958;18:15–17.
    1. Griffing SM, Kilpatrick AM, Clark L, Marra PP. Mosquito landing rates on nesting American robins (Turdus migratorius) Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2007;7:437–443. - PubMed
    1. McLean RG, Crans WJ, Caccamise DF, McNelly J, Kirk LJ, Mitchell CJ, Calisher CH. Experimental infection of wading birds with eastern equine encephalitis virus. J Wildl Dis. 1995;31:502–508. - PubMed
    1. Scott TW, Lorenz LH, Edman JD. Effects of house sparrow age and arbovirus infection on attraction of mosquitoes. J Med Entomol. 1990;27:856–863. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources