Increased mortality of black-browed albatross chicks at a colony heavily-infested with the tick Ixodes uriae.
At Bird Island, South Georgia, we studied the effects of the tick Ixodes uriae on survival of chicks at two colonies of the black-browed albatross Diomedea melanophrys, one where most chicks were infested with ticks, the other where most chicks were tick-free. When the two colonies were compared, it was found that the colony heavily-infested with ticks had significantly greater chick mortality than the colony lightly-infested with ticks. However, within each of the two colonies, there was no significant difference in survival between chicks with ticks and those without ticks.
Bergström
S
S
Department of Microbiology, Umeå University, Sweden.
Haemig
P D
PD
Olsen
B
B
D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D001717:Birds / Q000469:parasitology*; D018884:Ixodes; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary*