Date of Award
8-15-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Biology, MS
First Advisor
Than Boves
Committee Members
Lori Neuman-Lee; Tanja McKay
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2022 K73
Abstract
Feather mites are ectosymbiotic arthropods that reside primarily on the wing and tail feathers of most birds. Despite our growing understanding of feather mite biology, previous studies of the nature of the feather mite-avian host relationship report mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism. Such inconsistencies are likely due to narrow study designs that fail to capture the possibility of context dependency in this interaction. To provide some clarity surrounding the nature of this symbiotic system, we explored how geographical, climatic, and ecological contexts relate to variation in feather mite abundance and how that abundance, consequently, associates with multiple metrics of host condition (i.e., body condition, apparent annual survival, as well as immune and hematological metrics). This thesis provides a novel assessment of this symbiosis by exploring both its context dependency and a suite of host response metrics.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Krajcir, Kevin James, "An Ecological and Physiological Assessment of Feather Mite-Bird Symbioses" (2022). Student Theses and Dissertations. 242.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/242
