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1 January 2003 BLOOD PARASITES IN SAGE-GROUSE FROM NEVADA AND OREGON
Mike R. Dunbar, Susan Tornquist, Mark R. Giordano
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Abstract

Peripheral blood smears from 196 adult and yearling female greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) were examined for blood parasites (167 from the breeding and 29 from the brood-rearing season) to determine prevalence of blood parasites, to attempt to correlate infection with chick survival, and to establish base-line values of prevalence in sage-grouse from Nevada and Oregon (USA). Birds were captured and released on two study areas during 1999–2001; Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in northwestern Nevada, and Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge (HMNAR) in southeastern Oregon. Birds from a third study area, Beaty's Butte grazing allotment (BB) in southeastern Oregon, were sampled in 2000 and 2001. Overall, 19 birds (10%) were positive for Leucocytozoon lovati (=L. bonasae), 1 (0.5%) for Plasmodium pedioecetii, and 2 (1%) for microfilariae. Although prevalence of L. lovati on HMNAR was 39% during the breeding season in 1999 and 100% during the brood-rearing season in 2000, statistically, prevalence of L. lovati among study areas and years was not different. However, there were statistical differences between capture periods. Overall, 31% of the hens were positive for L. lovati during the brood-rearing season compared to 6% during the breeding season. There was no difference in packed cell volume between infected and non-infected birds and no difference between age-classes. However, mean sage-grouse productivity on HMNAR was higher (1.6 chicks/hen) for non-infected (n=10) compared to infected hens (0.7 chicks/hen; n=7), during 1999. Based on these limited observations on HMNAR in 1999, the possible effects that L. lovati may have on young sage-grouse could be detrimental to sage-grouse populations in Nevada and Oregon.

Dunbar, Tornquist, and Giordano: BLOOD PARASITES IN SAGE-GROUSE FROM NEVADA AND OREGON
Mike R. Dunbar, Susan Tornquist, and Mark R. Giordano "BLOOD PARASITES IN SAGE-GROUSE FROM NEVADA AND OREGON," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 39(1), 203-208, (1 January 2003). https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-39.1.203
Received: 12 November 2001; Published: 1 January 2003
KEYWORDS
blood parasites
Centrocercus urophasianus
Leucocytozoon lovati
Nevada
Oregon
Plasmodium
sage-grouse
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