Taxonomy and ecology of coccidians of wild birds from Marambaia Island: identification of new species, genotypes, hosts, localities and pseudoparasitism
oocysts, coccidians, Isospora, morphology, sequencing, Passerines
The Atlantic Forest is one of the priority biomes of the World to be restored. Approximately 70% of the Brazilian population depends on the ecosystem services of this biome, however, it is at a high level of threat and risk. Marambaia Island is a conserved area of this biome, located on the Costa Verde coast, south of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Knowledge of the ecology of wild birds is extremely important for the conservation of the Atlantic Forest and, therefore, Marambaia Island. Free-living birds coexist with numerous parasites in conserved environments, but they tend to suffer from parasites, especially coccidiosis, when in impacted environments. Coccidiosis is a disease caused by coccidia chromists, which form a diverse and complex taxonomic group. The Passeriformes order is mainly parasitized by coccidia of the genera Isospora and Eimeria, which belong to the Eimeriidae family. In this context, the main objective of the present study was to identify (morphologically and molecularly) and quantify coccidians parasites of wild birds of different species, families and locations within and adjacent to Marambaia Island. In this sense, this thesis presents a review of the scientific literature on the themes of ecology and taxonomy of coccidians of wild birds, and in chapters I, II and III, morphological and molecular identifications of coccidian species from wild birds captured in and around Marambaia Island, including a new species named Isospora juruviarae Andrade & Berto, 2023. Finally, chapter IV covers the survey and monitoring of identifications and densities of coccidians in the different orders and families of wild birds captured in and around Marambaia Island in the period from 2019 to 2023.