An experimental test of the effects of behavioral and immunological defenses against vectors: do they interact to protect birds from blood parasites?

Background: Blood-feeding arthropods can harm their hosts in many ways, such as through direct tissue damage and anemia, but also by distracting hosts from foraging or watching for predators. Blood-borne pathogens transmitted by arthropods can further harm the host. Thus, effective behavioral and immunological defenses against blood-feeding arthropods may provide important fitness advantages to hosts if they reduce bites, and in systems involving pathogen transmission, if they lower pathogen transmission rate.

Sex-specific effects of an avian malaria parasite on an insect vector: support for the resource limitation hypothesis.

Many parasites, such as those that cause malaria, depend on an insect vector for transmission between vertebrate hosts. Theory predicts that parasites should have little or no effect on the transmission ability of vectors, e.g.

How effective is preening against mobile ectoparasites? An experimental test with pigeons and hippoboscid flies.

Birds combat ectoparasites with many defences but the first line of defence is grooming behaviour, which includes preening with the bill and scratching with the feet. Preening has been shown to be very effective against ectoparasites. However, most tests have been with feather lice, which are relatively slow moving.