金門栗喉蜂虎身體素質與寄生蟲感染評估

Abstract

None

Several studies have proved that birds residing in higher density colonies had more chance of infectious disease exposure. Not only parasite infection deteriorate host physical condition, it also indirectly affects the reproductive performance which can affect the population stability. Kinmen island, known to be the only breeding ground of blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus) within Taiwanese territory, has been removing vegetation periodically to attract more birds to breed in the destined areas. As a result, those areas showed to host higher bird density than the untreated colonies nonetheless its population health has yet been investigated. This study aimed to compare parasite prevalence, body condition, and reproductive performance between birds breeding in natural and treated colonies to determine whether human intervention in effort of conservation has any impact on bee-eater health. The study found that despite birds residing in natural colonies expressed better body condition and brood size, there was no significant difference in parasite prevalence between the colony types. Moreover, none of pathogen infection had significant influence over the body condition nor reproductive performance. This study findings which was in opposition to the initial expectation might be elicited by low disease prevalence, migration strategy, and natural selection. Without any serious health concern, the blue-tailed bee-eaters population in Kinmen island was in acceptable condition thus far. Human intervention by breeding grounds alteration did not have critical impact on its population health and reproductive performance.