Diversity and Abundance of Lice on Speckled Mousebird Colius Striatus and Red-Capped Lark Calandrella Cinerea in Two Ecologically Different Habitats in Central Kenya
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Diversity and abundance of lice on Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus and Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea in two ecologically different habitats in central Kenya Wamiti, Stephen Wanyoike (B.Sc. Natural Resources Management) Reg. No.: I56/22796/2011 Department of Zoological Sciences A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Science (Animal Ecology) in the School of Pure and Applied Sciences of Kenyatta University October 2014 ii DECLARATION Declaration by the Candidate This thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other University or any other award. Wamiti, Stephen Wanyoike (I56/22796/2011) Signature: Date: 16 October 2014 Declaration by the Supervisors We confirm that the candidate under our supervision carried out the work reported in this thesis. Dr. Eunice W. Kairu Kenyatta University Department of Zoological Sciences Signature: Date: 24 October 2014 Dr. Jason D. Weckstein Field Museum of Natural History Department of Science and Education Center of Integrative Research Chicago, Illinois, USA. Signature: Date: 16 October2014 iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my family, especially to my late father Joseph Wamiti Wabunyi who passed on prior to commencement of fieldwork (May God rest his soul in eternal peace) and to my mother Mary Wanjiru. Together with my siblings, you countlessly gave yourselves in many ways to see me through school. I also lovingly dedicate it to my wife Lucy Njoki for your prayers, patience, understanding, support and being there for me each step of the way, and to our wonderful children, Alex Wamiti and Owen Ndegwa for your cheerful, playful moments - may you grow to love God and be inspired to reach your dreams. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to all those who believe in the pursuit of excellence and richness of learning. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very thankful to my supervisors Dr. Eunice Kairu of Kenyatta University and Dr. Jason D. Weckstein of FMNH, Chicago for their encouragement, support and guidance. Dr. Jason Weckstein and his colleague, Dr. John M. Bates, encouraged me to carry on and pursue my interest in avian parasitology and recommended me to the FMNH’s Irene D. Pritzker (IDP) African Training Fund to whom I owe lots of gratitude for it would not have been possible to pursue my postgraduate studies without this invaluable financial support. Additional fieldwork support was received from Prof. Pablo Veiga and Dr. Vicente Polo, both of Madrid, Spain. Prof. Irene B. Tieleman of Groningen University (The Netherlands) allowed me to collect data in her ongoing Larks Project in addition to provision of weather data for Naivasha. I cannot forget the immense contribution of Ms. Heather Skeen for her assistance with DNA extraction and determination of bird’s sex at the DNA Discovery Center & Pritzker Laboratory at the FMNH, Chicago. I am also very grateful to Dr. Jeno Reiczigel and Dr. Lajos Rózsa (Budapest, Hungary) for their assistance with insights of QP3.0 software. Dr. Martin Hromada (University of Prešov, Slovakia) commented on an early version of this thesis. Many thanks to staff at the Zoology Departments of the National Museums of Kenya and Kenyatta University for their unmatched professional assistance. I am indebted to the management of the National Museums of Kenya for approval of my studies. I highly appreciate the support of Nyahururu Bird Club members, the Larks Project research assistants and Francis Muigai of Njabini for helping with data collection and field logistics. My heartfelt appreciation goes to the numerous landowners in Nyandarua and Nakuru Counties who allowed me to trap and examine birds in their farms. I cannot forget the invaluable input of Mrs Sarah Higgins of Naivasha Owls Centre who granted a free access to her camp ground in addition to assisting with logistics in farms where data was collected in Naivasha. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION...................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION........................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF PLATES ................................................................................................................... x ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................... xi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem Statement and Justification ....................................................................... 4 1.3 Null Hypotheses (Ho)............................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research Questions.................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Objectives ................................................................................................................ 5 1.5.1 General Objective ................................................................................................ 5 1.5.2 Specific Objectives .............................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 6 2.1 Parasitism................................................................................................................. 6 2.2. Avian ectoparasites .................................................................................................. 6 2.2.1 Lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) .................................................................................. 7 2.2.2 Ticks and mites (Arachnida: Acari) ..................................................................... 8 2.2.3 Louse flies (Insecta: Diptera, Hippoboscidae) ..................................................... 9 2.2.4 Tropical nest fly (Insecta: Diptera, Muscidae) .................................................... 9 2.2.5 Fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) ............................................................................. 10 2.2.6 Other ectoparasite found on birds ...................................................................... 10 2.3 Previous and current studies on avian parasites .................................................... 10 CHAPTER THREE: STUDY AREA, MATERIALS AND METHODS ......................... 14 3.1 Description of study areas ..................................................................................... 14 3.1.1 Nyandarua County ............................................................................................. 18 3.1.2 Nakuru County ................................................................................................... 18 3.2 Study species ......................................................................................................... 19 vi 3.2.1 Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus .................................................................. 20 3.2.2 Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea............................................................... 21 3.3 Study design .......................................................................................................... 23 3.3.1 Sample size (n) determination ........................................................................... 23 3.3.2 Sampling design ................................................................................................. 24 3.3.3 Selection of sampling sites and study species.................................................... 24 3.3.4 Trapping and processing birds ........................................................................... 25 3.3.5 Lice sampling ..................................................................................................... 28 3.3.6 Manipulation and analysis of data ..................................................................... 30 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS ............................................................................................. 36 4.1 Occurrence of host species and lice ....................................................................... 36 4.1.1 Sample size and temporal distribution of examined hosts ................................. 36 4.1.2 Sex and age composition of examined hosts ..................................................... 37 4.2 Distribution of lice among the hosts .................................................................. 38 4.3 Prevalence and infestation intensities of lice ......................................................... 42 4.4 Louse species composition .................................................................................... 44 4.4.1 Lice found on Speckled Mousebird ..................................................................