title: Coevolutionary patterns and diversification of avian malaria parasites in African sunbirds (Family Nectariniidae).
abstract: The coevolutionary relationships between avian malaria parasites and their hosts influence the host specificity, geographical distribution and pathogenicity of these parasites. However, to understand fine scale coevolutionary host-parasite relationships, robust and widespread sampling from closely related hosts is needed. We thus sought to explore the coevolutionary history of avian Plasmodium and the widespread African sunbirds, family Nectariniidae. These birds are distributed throughout Africa and occupy a variety of habitats. Considering the role that habitat plays in influencing host-specificity and the role that host-specificity plays in coevolutionary relationships, African sunbirds provide an exceptional model system to study the processes that govern the distribution and diversity of avian malaria. Here we evaluated the coevolutionary histories using a multi-gene phylogeny for Nectariniidae and avian Plasmodium found in Nectariniidae. We then assessed the host-parasite biogeography and the structuring of parasite assemblages. We recovered Plasmodium lineages concurrently in East, West, South and Island regions of Africa. However, several Plasmodium lineages were recovered exclusively within one respective region, despite being found in widely distributed hosts. In addition, we inferred the biogeographic history of these parasites and provide evidence supporting a model of biotic diversification in avian Plasmodium of African sunbirds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology,San Francisco State University,San Francisco,California 94132,USA.
authors.forename: Elvin J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lauron
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology,San Francisco State University,San Francisco,California 94132,USA.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Loiseau
authors.affiliation: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology,University of California at Berkeley,Berkeley,California 94720,USA.
authors.forename: Rauri C K
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Bowie
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology,San Francisco State University,San Francisco,California 94132,USA.
authors.forename: Greg S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Spicer
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical Research,University of California at Los Angeles,Los Angeles,California 90095,USA.
authors.forename: Thomas B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: CIBIO,Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos,InBio,Universidade do Porto,Campus Agrário de Vairão,4485-661 Vairão,Portugal.
authors.forename: Martim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology,San Francisco State University,San Francisco,California 94132,USA.
authors.forename: Ravinder N M
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Sehgal
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D058507:Host Specificity; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007195:Indian Ocean Islands; D008289:Malaria, Avian / Q000469:parasitology*; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000145:classification / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: host switching