在过去的几年里,草原鸟类一直在大幅下降。栖息地丧失,降解,和碎片化以及气候变化都被认为是下降的主要驱动因素。然而,随着下降速度继续加快,研究可能导致人口波动的其他因素变得势在必行。线虫Oxyspirurapetrowi,Aulonocephaluspennula,和鱼翅目。通常被发现感染北部Bobwhite(Colinusvirginianus),具有经济重要性的游戏物种,所有3种线虫都使用昆虫作为中间宿主。在这里,我们使用聚合酶链反应技术来确定7种昆虫中3种线虫的发生,以揭示传播到北部白鲸的最大潜力的流行病学模式。从3月到9月,使用清扫网和陷阱陷阱收集了昆虫。使用带有蒙特卡罗模拟的R×C卡方检验来确定寄生虫在分类单元和时间上的发生差异。统计分析结果表明,线虫主要存在于直翅目中,和A.pennula和Physalopterasp.显示了昆虫的流行病学模式。然而,O.petrowi没有观察到这种模式。提出了O.petrowi缺乏流行病学模式的解释,并增加了3种线虫的已知昆虫宿主的多样性。
Grassland birds have been declining substantially for the past several years. Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation as well as climate change are all thought to be the main drivers of the decline. However, as the declines continue to accelerate, it is becoming imperative to examine other factors that may contribute to population fluctuations. The nematodes Oxyspirura petrowi, Aulonocephalus pennula, and Physaloptera sp. are commonly found infecting northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), a game species of economic importance, and all 3 nematodes use insects as an intermediate host. Here we used polymerase chain reaction techniques to determine the occurrence of the 3 nematodes in 7 insect orders to uncover epidemiological patterns of the greatest potential for transmission to northern bobwhite. Insects were collected from March through September using sweep nets and pitfall traps. An R × C chi-squared test with Monte Carlo simulation was used to determine differences in the occurrence of the parasites across taxa and time. The results of the statistical analysis showed the nematodes are predominantly found in the order Orthoptera, and A. pennula and Physaloptera sp. showed epidemiological patterns in insects. However, no such pattern was observed with O. petrowi. An explanation for the lack of epidemiological pattern in O. petrowi is proposed and the diversity of known insect hosts of the 3 nematodes is increased.