This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Feeding stations providing food and water for wild birds are contributing to the spread of disease-causing parasites among farmland birds, researchers have said, with birds three times more likely to catch a parasite from these resources. Rebecca Thomas as part of her Ph.D. work at the University of Leeds, and co-supervised by Dr.
Simon Goodman in Leeds' School of Biology and Dr. Jenny Dunn from Keele's School of Life Sciences, the new research published in the journal Molecular Ecology looked at the prevalence of the parasite Trichomonas gallinae in farmland birds. The research was conducted in collaboration with the RSPB, Natural England and the University of Sheffield.
The Trichomonas gallinae parasite is widespread worldwide in birds from the pigeon and dove group, also known as columbids, where it is a conservation threat to some endangered species, such as the turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur). The parasite also causes a lethal disease in another group of birds known as passerines, which are common in gardens and include well-known songbirds like finches, warblers and sparrows. Previous work has suggested that the parasite may be transmitted between birds through shared food and water in gardens, but more information is needed on how the parasite is transmitted between species and to what extent it persists in the environment.
One hypothesis has suggested that this parasite might also be transmitted at shared food and water resources commonly used on farmland to help wild bird populations. Providing supplementary food on farms is widespread as a conservation measure to support endangered wildlife species, including turtle doves, and to sustain gamebirds such as pheasants. To test this idea, the team used DNA sequencing to screen 363 birds in the UK and France, as well as 51 shared food and water resources, at 12 farmland sites over a two-year period.
The DNA tests confirmed the presence or absence of the parasite and identified which strains were present. The birds sampled were both columbids and non-columbids and included birds that fed at high-density shared food resources where supplementary feed stations were set out, as well as birds feeding at low-density natural sources like seed-providing vegetation. Their results showed that T. gallinae parasites were present in 79% of the columbid birds screened, 36% of the non-columbids and 39% of the shared environmental resources.
One strain of the parasite, known as Type A, was more than twice as prevalent in birds that fed at high-density resources as at lower-density, more natural sites. It was also found nearly three times as often at the high-density feeding sites themselves as at natural feed sites. The Type A strain is more virulent and has been linked to mortalities and population declines in UK greenfinch populations.
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