Research shows stressed-out birds
more attractive to mosquitoes, raising fears birds exposed to stressors such as
road noise, pesticides and light pollution, will be bitten more often and
spread more West Nile virus
Date: August 10, 2016
Source: University of South
Florida (USF Innovation)
When researchers from the
University of South Florida (USF) and colleagues investigated how the stress
hormone, corticosterone, affects how birds cope with West Nile virus, they
found that birds with higher levels of stress hormone were twice as likely to be
bitten by mosquitoes that transmit the virus. Their studies have implications
for the transmission of other viruses such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and
perhaps even Zika, both known to be carried by the kind of mosquitoes used in
this study.
A paper describing their research
was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"Few studies have considered
how stress hormone effects on individuals might influence population
dynamics," said study lead author Dr. Stephanie Gervasi, who conducted the
studies while carrying out her postdoctoral work at USF and is now at the
Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "For vector-borne diseases
such as West Nile virus, the presence of corticosterone could influence
pathogen spread through effects on contact rates with the mosquitoes that
transmit it. In addition, stress hormones have negative effects on animals
including immunosuppression and increased susceptibility to infections, which
is why we are now also studying how corticosterone affects the birds' immune
response to the virus."
According to the researchers,
mosquitoes use a variety of cues to locate a target, including carbon dioxide
output, body size and temperature. They hypothesized that these signals coming
from a bird could convey information about stress hormones making the birds
more appealing targets for the insects.
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