Does avian malaria reduce fledging success: an experimental test of the selection hypothesis

Like many parasites, avian haematozoa are often found at lower infection intensities in older birds than young birds. One explanation, known as the “selection” hypothesis, is that infected young birds die before reaching adulthood, thus removing the highest infection intensities from the host population. We tested this hypothesis in the field by experimentally infecting nestling rock pigeons (Columba livia) with the malaria parasite Haemoproteus columbae. We compared the condition and fledging success of infected nestlings to that of uninfected controls. There was no significant difference in the body mass, fledging success, age at fledging, or post-fledging survival of experimental versus control birds. These results were unexpected, given that long-term studies of older pigeons have demonstrated chronic effects of H. columbae. We conclude that H. columbae has little impact on nestling pigeons, even when they are directly infected with the parasite. Our study provides no support for the selection hypothesis that older birds have lower parasite loads because parasites are removed from the population by infected nestlings dying. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test the impact of avian malaria using experimental inoculations under natural conditions.