期刊
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
卷 6, 期 -, 页码 -出版社
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/srep34559
关键词
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资金
- Galapagos Conservation Trust
- Ethologische Gesellschaft e.V.
- FWF [P 26556-B22]
- International Community Foundation
- Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust [FCD 2140]
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P 26556] Funding Source: researchfish
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P26556] Funding Source: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Darwin's finches are highly innovative. Recently we recorded for the first time a behavioural innovation in Darwin's finches outside the foraging context: individuals of four species rubbed leaves of the endemic tree Psidium galapageium on their feathers. We hypothesised that this behaviour serves to repel ectoparasites and tested the repellency of P. galapageium leaf extracts against parasites that negatively affect the fitness of Darwin's finches, namely mosquitoes and the invasive hematophagous fly Philornis downsi. Mosquitoes transmit pathogens which have recently been introduced by humans and the larvae of the fly suck blood from nestlings and incubating females. Our experimental evidence demonstrates that P. galapageium leaf extracts repel both mosquitoes and adult P. downsi and also inhibit the growth of P. downsi larvae. It is therefore possible that finches use this plant to repel ectopoarasites.
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