Fig 1.
Primaries (A) and rectrices (B) of Cory´s shearwater (see [58]). Primaries were divided into four equal regions: PPV—proximal posterior vane, DPV—distal posterior vane, PAV—proximal anterior vane, DAV—distal anterior vane (C), while rectrices were divided into two regions: AV—anterior vane and PV—posterior vane (D).
Fig 2.
Distribution of Mb (gray) and Zo (black) in the ten primaries of Cory´s shearwater left wing.
Feathers are ordered following their position in the wing from internal (P1) to external (P10) primary feathers. “Number of mites” represents the mean number of mites of each species per feather. The 95% confidence limits were computed by resampling using 500 bootstrapped values.
Fig 3.
Mean number of mites and 95% confidence interval of Mb (grey) and Zo (black) across the four regions of all Cory´s shearwater primary feathers (A) and on P6-P9 feathers, where the two mite species co-occur (B).
The “number of mites” represents the mean number of mites of each species per feather region. DPV = distal posterior vane; PPV = proximal posterior vane; DAV = distal anterior vane; PAV = proximal anterior vane.
Table 1.
Mean and percentage of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values for the two feather mite species and host tissues (feathers, blood, preen gland oil and wing skin), from Cory´s shearwaters breeding in Veneguera.
Values report mean and standard error (n = number of analyzed samples).
Fig 4.
Mean δ13C and δ15N isotopic values of feather mites (Mb and Zo) and host tissues (blood, feathers, preen gland oil and wing skin) from Cory´s shearwater breeding in Veneguera.
Preen gland oil and wing skin were isolated from dead birds belonging to the same species and same island location. Mb was sampled from P4-P6 feathers and Zo from P9-P10. Mean δ13C and δ15N isotopic values of other ectoparasite species (three louse species: Austromenopon echinatum, Halipeurus abnormis, Saemundssonia peusi and one species of flea: Xenopsylla gratiosa) and host tissues (blood and feathers) from Cory´s shearwater taken from Gómez-Díaz and González-Solís 2010 were also included. Error bars represent standard error. For X. gratiosa and S. peusi the error bars are not shown because of the small number of samples (n = 2 and n = 1, respectively). Isotopic values were not corrected for fractionation.
Fig 5.
Correlations of carbon isotopic values between each mite species (Mb in grey circles and Zo in black circles) and host blood (A), and between Mb and Zo inhabititng the same individual host (B), for 20 Cory´s shearwaters sampled in Veneguera.