Wild birds are hosts of Culicoides from as early on as the nesting stage when constrained to their nests. However, the environmental factors which determine the abundance and composition of Culicoides species within each bird nest are still understudied. We sampled Culicoides from Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nests found in 2 types of forests located in southern Spain. Firstly, we monitored the abundance of Culicoides species in bird nests from a dry Pyrenean oak deciduous forest and a humid mixed forest comprising Pyrenean and Holm oaks throughout 2 consecutive years. During the 3rd year, we performed a cross-fostering experiment between synchronous nests to differentiate the role of rearing environment conditions from that of the genetically determined or maternally transmitted cues released by nestlings from each forest. We found 147 female Culicoides from 5 different species in the birds' nests. The abundance of Culicoides was higher in the dry forest than in the humid forest. Culicoides abundance, species richness and prevalence were greater when the nestlings were hatched later in the season. The same pattern was observed in the cross-fostering experiment, but we did not find evidence that nestling's features determined by the forest of origin had any effect on the Culicoides collected. These results support the notion that habitat type has a strong influence on the Culicoides affecting birds in their nests, while some life history traits of birds, such as the timing of reproduction, also influence Culicoides abundance and species composition.

Biological Station of Doñana EBD CSIC Av Américo Vespucio 26 41092 Seville Spain

CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health Madrid Spain

Department of Biological Sciences Dartmouth College Hanover NH 03755 USA

Department of Ecology University of Alicante 03690 Alicante Spain

Department of Parasitology Faculty of Pharmacy University of Granada 18071 Granada Spain

Department of Veterinary Sciences Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 16500 Prague 6 Suchdol Czech Republic

Department of Zoology Faculty of Sciences University of Granada 18071 Granada Spain

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