Darwin’s finches treat their feathers with a natural repellent
نویسندگان
چکیده
Darwin's finches are highly innovative. Recently we recorded for the first time a behavioural innovation in Darwin's finches outside the foraging context: individuals of four species rubbed leaves of the endemic tree Psidium galapageium on their feathers. We hypothesised that this behaviour serves to repel ectoparasites and tested the repellency of P. galapageium leaf extracts against parasites that negatively affect the fitness of Darwin's finches, namely mosquitoes and the invasive hematophagous fly Philornis downsi. Mosquitoes transmit pathogens which have recently been introduced by humans and the larvae of the fly suck blood from nestlings and incubating females. Our experimental evidence demonstrates that P. galapageium leaf extracts repel both mosquitoes and adult P. downsi and also inhibit the growth of P. downsi larvae. It is therefore possible that finches use this plant to repel ectopoarasites.
منابع مشابه
Darwin and His Finches: The Evolution of a Legend
First collected by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Archipelago, the Geospizinae, or “Darwin’s finches,” have rightly been celebrated as a classic instance of the workings of evolution through natural selection. Among birds, Darwin’s finches are rivaled only by the Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanididae) as a microcosmic exemplification of the principle of adaptive evolutionary radiation. Although...
متن کاملInvasive Parasites and the Fate of Darwin’s Finches in the Galapagos Islands: The Case of the Vegetarian Finch (Platyspiza crassirostris)
—The Vegetarian Finch, Platyspiza crassirostris ! is a relatively unstudied Darwin’s finch that appears to be in decline in the Galápagos Islands. We monitored 11 nests of Vegetarian Finches during 2013 and 2014 on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, and found that 10 of these were infested with an invasive parasitic fly, Philornis downsi. This is the first report of P. downsi attacking this bird spe...
متن کاملVideo analysis of host–parasite interactions in nests of Darwin’s finches
Parasites place their hosts under strong selection for adaptive traits that increase parasite resistance. The initial impact of invasive parasites has rarely been observed and can be particularly strong on naı̈ve hosts with limited prior exposure to parasites.Philornis downsi is an introduced fly to theGalapagos Islands whose parasitic larvae cause high mortality in nestlings of Darwin’s finches...
متن کاملHydrophobic duck feathers and their simulation on textile substrates for water repellent treatment.
Inspired by the non-wetting phenomena of duck feathers, the water repellent property of duck feathers was studied at the nanoscale. The microstructures of the duck feather were investigated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging method through a step-by-step magnifying procedure. The SEM results show that duck feathers have a multi-scale structure and that this multi-scale structure as...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره 6 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2016