The Effect of Hemosporidian Infections on White-Crowned Sparrow Singing Behavior

摘要: Relatively little is known about the effects of specific parasites on sexually selected behavioral traits. We subjected free-living mountain white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha) to a playback experiment identify effect hemosporidian potentially song characteristics. recorded after novel sparrow song, meant simulate territorial intrusion. Infections with Leucocytozoon or Plasmodium influenced singing behavior, while infection Haemoproteus had no detectable effect. Specifically, consistency, as measured using spectrogram correlation, was by both and infection. Additionally, birds infected sang fewer songs following experimental playback. Thus, relatively widespread parasites, like Plasmodium, may have strong