Map of Mata Seca State Park in Minas Gerais, Brazil, showing the sampling areas.

<p>Geographic coordinates from the sampling points: Early stages: 14°50'58.00"S, 44° 0'28.00"W; 14°50'57.00"S, 44°0'14.00"W; 14°50'57.11"S, 43°59'58.82"W. Intermediate stages: 14°50'58.00"S, 43°58'42.00"O; 14°50'56.21"S, 43°58'50.15"O; 14°50'52.00"S, 43°58'49.00" W. Late stages: 14°50'56.74"S, 43°59'40.51"W; 14°50'54.70"S, 14°50'51.79"S, 43°59'17.89"W; 43°58'1.53"W. Pasture areas: 14°51'27.09"S, 43°57'20.41"W; 14°51'0.35"S, 43°57'32.24"W; 14°50'59.42"S, 43°57'4.39"W.</p

Bayesian phylogenetic tree showing lineages detected in the pasture and non-pasture areas, and in the rainy and dry seasons.

<p>Posterior probabilities and nucleotide changes (scale bar) are shown. <i>Leucocytozoon schoutedeni</i> represents the outgroup.</p

Habitat modification and seasonality influence avian haemosporidian parasite distributions in southeastern Brazil - Fig 2

<p><b>Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showing bird (a) and parasite (b) community dissimilarities among successional stages.</b> Bird communities were dissimilar between pasture and non-pasture areas (ANOSIM; R = 0.98; P < 0.01), but there was no difference in parasite dissimilarity (ANOSIM; R = 0.1; P = 0.25).</p

Number of birds sampled and haemosporidian prevalence by successional stage and season in the Mata Seca State Park.

<p>Number of birds sampled and haemosporidian prevalence by successional stage and season in the Mata Seca State Park.</p

Haemosporidian prevalence and lineages distribution according to bird habitat use for habitat-specialists and generalist species.

<p>Haemosporidian prevalence and lineages distribution according to bird habitat use for habitat-specialists and generalist species.</p

Exploring the Diversity and Distribution of Neotropical Avian Malaria Parasites – A Molecular Survey from Southeast Brazil

<div><p>Southeast Brazil is a neotropical region composed of a mosaic of different tropical habitats and mountain chains, which allowed for the formation of bird-rich communities with distinct ecological niches. Although this region has the potential to harbor a remarkable variety of avian parasites, there is a lack of information about the diversity of malarial parasites. We used molecular approaches to characterize the lineage diversity of <i>Plasmodium</i> and <i>Haemoproteus</i> in bird communities from three different habitats in southeast Brazil based on the prevalence, richness and composition of lineages. We observed an overall prevalence of 35.3%, with a local prevalence ranging from 17.2% to 54.8%. Moreover, no significant association between prevalence and habitat type could be verified (p>0.05). We identified 89 <i>Plasmodium</i> and 22 <i>Haemoproteus</i> lineages, with 86% of them described for the first time here, including an unusual infection of a non-columbiform host by a <i>Haemoproteus</i> (<i>Haemoproteus</i>) parasite. The composition analyses of the parasite communities showed that the lineage composition from Brazilian savannah and tropical dry forest was similar, but it was different from the lineage composition of Atlantic rainforest, reflecting the greater likeness of the former habitats with respect to seasonality and forest density. No significant effects of habitat type on lineage richness were observed based on GLM analyses. We also found that sites whose samples had a greater diversity of bird species showed a greater diversity of parasite lineages, providing evidence that areas with high bird richness also have high parasite richness. Our findings point to the importance of the neotropical region (southeast Brazil) as a major reservoir of new haemosporidian lineages.</p> </div

Phylogenetic relationships of the <i>Plasmodium</i> cyt-b lineages.

<p><i>Plasmodium malariae</i> was used as outgroup. Numbers located near of the branches indicate Bayesian probability values. Symbols depict the different habitats (star: Atlantic rainforest; circle: Brazilian savannah; triangle: seasonally dry forest). Family birds are coded (BUC = Bucconidae; CAD = Cardinalidae; COE = Coerebidae; CON = Conopophagidae; DEN = Dendrocolaptidae; EMB = Emberezidae; FOR = Formicaridae; FRI = Fringilidae; FUR = Furnaridae; GAL = Galbulidae; ICT = Icteridae; PAR = Parulidae; PIC = Picidae; PIP = Pipridae; POL = Polioptidae; THA = Thamnophilidae; THR = Thraupidae; TRO = Troglodytidae; TUR = Turdidade; TYR = Tyranidae; VIR = Vireonidae).</p

Summary information from each sampling site, including infection data.

<p>Summary information from each sampling site, including infection data.</p

Phylogenetic relationships of the <i>Haemoproteus</i> cyt-b lineages.

<p><i>Plasmodium malariae</i> was used as outgroup. Numbers located near of the branches indicate Bayesian probability values. Symbols depict the different habitats (star: Atlantic rainforest; circle: Brazilian savannah; triangle: seasonally dry forest). Family birds are coded as shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0057770#pone-0057770-g002" target="_blank">figure 2</a>.</p

Summary of the GLM results including deviance and residual information data.

1<p>Each GLM Family corresponds to a different GML error adjustment;</p>2<p>Results of interaction among explanatory variables and redundant results among the GLM’s sets were omitted;</p>3<p>Bird species able to colonize urban areas;</p>4<p>Bird species able to colonize open areas.</p