The present study reports the presence of N. caninum DNA by PCR in brain tissues of house sparrows. The results showed that 6 (2.8%) of brain samples were positive for N. caninum. This is the first report for detection of N. caninum in sparrows, in Khuzestan Province. The results suggest that the meat of infected sparrows can be the source for dogs' infection.

Abstract Hosts can manage parasitic infections using an array of tactics, which are likely to vary contingent on coevolutionary history between the host and the parasite. Here we asked whether coping ability of congeners that differ in host-parasite coevolutionary history differed in response to experimental infections with a coccidian parasite. House sparrows (Passer domesticus) and gray-heade...

Determining the effect of an invasive species on enzootic pathogen dynamics is critical for understanding both human epidemics and wildlife epizootics. Theoretical models suggest that when a naive species enters an established host-parasite system, the new host may either reduce ('dilute') or increase ('spillback') pathogen transmission to native hosts. There are few empirical data to evaluate ...

the present study reports the presence of n. caninum dna by pcr in brain tissues of house sparrows. the results showed that 6 (2.8%) of brain samples were positive for n. caninum. this is the first report for detection of n. caninum in sparrows, in khuzestan province. the results suggest that the meat of infected sparrows can be the source for dogs' infection.

Urbanization strongly affects biodiversity, altering natural communities and often leading to a reduced species richness. Yet, despite its increasingly recognized importance, how urbanization impacts on the health of individual animals, wildlife populations and on disease ecology remains poorly understood. To test whether, and how, urbanization-driven ecosystem alterations influence pathogen dy...

Comparative Toxicity of Seventeen Pesticides to the Quelea, House Sparrow, and Red-Winged Blackbird. SCHAFER, E. W., JR., BRUNTON, R. B., LOCKYER, N. F. AND DE GRAZIO, J. W. (1973). Toxicol. Appl. Phurmacol. 26, 154-157. The acute po LD5,, values of 17 commercial or experimental pesticides were determined for quelea (Quelea quelea), house sparrows (Passer domesticus), and red-winged blackbirds ...

Shinichi Nakagawa and Joel Pick introduce what we can learn from house sparrows.

Levels of corticosterone (CORT), the primary avian stress hormone, tend to vary over space and time in passerines, but why this is so remains unclear. One reason may be differential need for immune defense. Typically, sustained high levels of CORT suppress immune activity in vertebrates. Thus, animals living where parasite threats are high might maintain low levels of CORT and mount weak CORT s...

A stabilized hybrid form of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Spanish sparrow (P. hispaniolensis) is known as Passer italiae from the Italian Peninsula and a few Mediterranean islands. The growing attention for the Italian hybrid sparrow and increasing knowledge on its biology and genetic constitution greatly contrast the complete lack of knowledge of the long-known phenotypical hyb...