ArticlePloS one2011
Diversity, loss, and gain of malaria parasites in a globally invasive bird.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed.
- Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Infection and Immunity in Experimentally Founded Lake Populations of Threespine Stickleback.The American naturalist · 2026Article
- Avian malaria and invasion success: Contrasting infection patterns in two introduced Eurasian sparrows in North America (International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2026Article
- A cross section through mosquitoes of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Barcodes, blood meals and pathogens.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Evidence for the Vacated Niche Hypothesis in Parasites of Invasive Mammals.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Contrasting morphometric responses to increasing urbanisation in congeneric sparrow species.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Contribution to ecological environmental factors and the occurrence of haemosporidians in birds in Zhongar Alatau National Park, Kazakhstan.Parasitology research · 2023Article
- Natural Vector of AvianInsects · 2023Article
- Mitochondrial genome amplification of avian haemosporidian parasites from single-infected wildlife samples using a novel nested PCR approach.Parasitology research · 2023Article
- Avian haemosporidian parasites in captive and free-ranging, wild birds from zoological institutions in Switzerland: Molecular characterization and clinical importance.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2023Article
- Avian Haemosporidian (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) Status in Two Bird Groups (Old-World Flycatchers and Thrushes) of India and Their Phylogenetic Relationships with Other Lineages of the World.Acta parasitologica · 2022Article
- Prevalence of co-infection and genetic diversity of avian haemosporidian parasites in two rehabilitation facilities in Iran: implications for the conservation of captive raptors.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Keys to the avian Haemoproteus parasites (Haemosporida, Haemoproteidae).Malaria journal · 2022Review
- Wildlife susceptibility to infectious diseases at global scales.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Experimental Study on Primary Bird Co-Infection with TwoAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Management of avian malaria in populations of high conservation concern.Parasites & vectors · 2022Review
- Reciprocal positive effects on parasitemia between coinfecting haemosporidian parasites in house sparrows.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Avian haemosporidian parasites of accipitriform raptors.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) as a tolerant host of avian malaria parasites.PloS one · 2022Article
- The Impact of Temperature on the Sporogonic Development of the Tropical Avian Malaria ParasiteMicroorganisms · 2021Article
- A highly invasive malaria parasite has expanded its range to non-migratory birds in North America.Biology letters · 2021Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
27 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Invasive species can displace natives, and thus identifying the traits that make aliens successful is crucial for predicting and preventing biodiversity loss. Pathogens may play an important role in the invasive process, facilitating colonization of their hosts in new continents and islands. According to the Novel Weapon Hypothesis, colonizers may out-compete local native species by bringing with them novel pathogens to which native species are not adapted. In contrast, the Enemy Release Hypothesis suggests that flourishing colonizers are successful because they have left their pathogens behind. To assess the role of avian malaria and related haemosporidian parasites in the global spread of a common invasive bird, we examined the prevalence and genetic diversity of haemosporidian parasites (order Haemosporida, genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) infecting house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We sampled house sparrows (N = 1820) from 58 locations on 6 continents. All the samples were tested using PCR-based methods; blood films from the PCR-positive birds were examined microscopically to identify parasite species. The results show that haemosporidian parasites in the house sparrows' native range are replaced by species from local host-generalist parasite fauna in the alien environments of North and South America. Furthermore, sparrows in colonized regions displayed a lower diversity and prevalence of parasite infections. Because the house sparrow lost its native parasites when colonizing the American continents, the release from these natural enemies may have facilitated its invasion in the last two centuries. Our findings therefore reject the Novel Weapon Hypothesis and are concordant with the Enemy Release Hypothesis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.