Parasites and Microsite Characteristics

Parasites are a mixed-bag when it comes to the severity of their impacts on the host species. Some species may cause minor annoyance and damage (e.g. Flatflies) while others can bleed individuals until they are anemic and even cause death (e.g. Mexican Chicken Bug). Parasite life history plays a strong role in their distribution and host species selection. With weather becoming more erratic and climate change causing global shifts in species distribution, parasites may be impacting new individuals in latitudes where the parasite hadn’t been prior or in environments that haven’t seen them before.

Little work has been done to quantify the microsite characteristics of Golden Eagle nest sites. Using the most current technology, I am monitoring both the relative humidity (rH) and temperature (T) of active nest sites. Both of these environmental variables have been shown to influence ectoparasite abundance, richness, and distribution. In addition to landscape characteristics, aspect of the nest, cover from elements, etc, we can get a better picture of what drives particular parasite invasions or makes certain locations/individuals more susceptible.

In 2021, it was never more apparent. In a strange occurrence of seasonal conditions - a warm winter, a drought year, several short bursts of monsoonal rain, record heat early in the season - we detected our first infestation of Mexican Chicken Bug in Utah. More to come on this development.

An Argus spp. of soft tick that has been found in large numbers on nestlings.