Authors: Josué Martínezde la Puente Santiago Merino Elisa Lobato Juan Riverode Aguilar Sara del Cerro Rafael RuizdeCastañeda
Publish Date: 2009/02/12
Volume: 104, Issue: 5, Pages: 1233-1236
Abstract
Here we validate the use of a citronella natural oil based repellent to reduce the abundance of flying bloodsucking insects in avian nests These insects are important parasites of birds affecting them as blood feeders and as vectors of a diversity of pathogens When nestling were 10 days old we assigned wild great tit Parus major nests to one of two treatments control and fumigated nests The abundance of biting midges and blackflies captured during 3 days following the treatment application were lower in fumigated nests with respect to control ones By contrast the abundance of blowfly pupae measured when nestlings left their nests was not affected by the treatment Although many experimental studies modify the abundance of nestdweller ectoparasites to our knowledge this is the first one describing an easy safe and effective method reducing the total abundance of both biting midges and blackflies in wild avian nests Our results could be used in future conservation projects and experimental studies on host–parasite evolution affecting the abundance of flying bloodfeeder insects under natural conditionsThis study was developed at the “El Ventorrillo” field station and funded by projects CGL200614129C0201 from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and CGL200761251 JMP is supported by a grant from the “El Ventorrillo” SC and RRC were supported by a grant from the Comunidad de Madrid and a JAECSIC grant respectively JMP also thanks members of the Animal Science Unit of the LPGC University for their help during the redaction of the manuscript
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