Cities as parasitic amplifiers? Malaria prevalence and diversity in great tits along an urbanization gradientuse asterix (*) to get italics

Aude E. Caizergues, Benjamin Robira, Charles Perrier, Melanie Jeanneau, Arnaud Berthomieu, Samuel Perret, Sylvain Gandon, Anne CharmantierPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"

2023

<p style="text-align: justify;">Urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon that modifies the environment. By affecting the reservoirs of pathogens and the body and immune conditions of hosts, urbanization alters the epidemiological dynamics and diversity of diseases. Cities could act as areas of pathogen dilution or amplification, depending on whether urban features have positive or negative effects on vectors and hosts. In this study, we focused on a host species and investigated the prevalence and diversity of avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium/Haemoproteus sp. and Leucocytozoon sp.) in great tits (<em>Parus major</em>) living across an urbanization gradient. In general, we observed high prevalence in adult birds (from 95% to 100%), yet lower prevalence in fledglings (from 0% to 38%). We found a slight tendency for increased Plasmodium sp. prevalence with increasing urbanization in adults. Urban nestlings had higher Plasmodium sp. infection rates than non-urban nestlings. We found evidence of higher diversity of parasites in the most natural urban park; however, parasite diversity was similar across other urbanization levels (e.g. from a little artificialized park to a highly anthropized industrial area). Parasite lineages were not habitat specific. Only one Plasmodium sp. lineage (YWT4) was associated with urban areas and some rare lineages (e.g., AFR065) were present only in a zoo area, perhaps because of the presence of African birds. This study suggests that urbanization can lead to a parasite amplification effect and can favor different avian malaria lineages.</p>

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8329693You should fill this box only if you chose 'All or part of the results presented in this preprint are based on data'. URL must start with http:// or https://

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8329693You should fill this box only if you chose 'Scripts were used to obtain or analyze the results'. URL must start with http:// or https://

urbanization, avian malaria, parasite, diversity, prevalence, epidemiology

NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).

Epidemiology, Host-parasite interactions, Human impact

Diego Santiago-Alarcon (santiagoalarcon@usf.edu), Pilar Carbó-Ramírez (pilarcarbo18@gmail.com), Gediminas Valkiūnas (gedvalk@ekoi.lt), Carine Brouat suggested: Gauthier Dobigny, gauthier.dobigny@ird.fr, Carine Brouat suggested: nathalie.charbonnel@inrae.fr, Benny Borremans suggested: Herwig Leirs - herwig.leirs@uantwerpen.be, Benny Borremans suggested: Joachim Mariën - joachim.marien@uantwerpen.be, Adele Mennerat suggested: I'm really sorry, I have conflict of interest (published with one of the coauthors in last 2 years). , Adele Mennerat suggested: You might try to ask Davide Dominioni in Saint Andrews or someone from his group. Or Erik Matthysen (he might have conflict of interest too with A. Charmantier, but perhaps someone from his group)., Adele Mennerat suggested: Wish I could help more! , Nathalie Charbonnel [nathalie.charbonnel@inrae.fr] suggested: Sorry, I am in the same lab than one of the coauthor. , Nathalie Charbonnel [nathalie.charbonnel@inrae.fr] suggested: Potential reviewers: , Nathalie Charbonnel [nathalie.charbonnel@inrae.fr] suggested: simone sommer Simone.Sommer@uni-ulm.de, Nathalie Charbonnel [nathalie.charbonnel@inrae.fr] suggested: Magalie Rene Martellet : magalie.renemartellet@vetagro-sup.fr, Nathalie Charbonnel [nathalie.charbonnel@inrae.fr] suggested: Maureen Murray maureenmurray@lpzoo.org, Gauthier Dobigny suggested: Florence Fournet (florence.fournet@ird.fr), Gauthier Dobigny suggested: Diego Ayala (diego.ayala@ird.fr), Andrés Visintín suggested: In their manuscript “Cities as parasitic amplifiers? Malaria prevalence and diversity in great tits along an urbanization gradient” Caizergues and co-authors report on the impact of urbanization on the prevalence and diversity of malaria parasites in two areas with different degree of anthropogenic disturbance, in Montpellier, France. , Andrés Visintín suggested: The manuscript is generally well-written and follow scientific convention. The introduction is nicely written and provides enough background information to support the relevance and interest of this study. Methods are also clear. Even though the results originally needed an expansion, this version provides much better information and analyses of the data obtained were deeply performed, and thus supporting the conclusions. , Andrés Visintín suggested: This will make a nice contribution to the body of literature regarding studies dealing with the urban ecology of host-parasite interactions. , Andrés Visintín suggested: In general, this is a much improved version of an earlier manuscript I revised, all my concerns were addressed, and I think it is a valuable contribution that merits publication. No need for them to be recommenders of PCIEcology. Please do not suggest reviewers for whom there might be a conflict of interest. Reviewers are not allowed to review preprints written by close colleagues (with whom they have published in the last four years, with whom they have received joint funding in the last four years, or with whom they are currently writing a manuscript, or submitting a grant proposal), or by family members, friends, or anyone for whom bias might affect the nature of the review - see the code of conduct

2023-09-11 20:24:44

Adrian Diaz

Anonymous, Gauthier Dobigny, Ana Paula Mansilla