Pearson’s correlation coefficient matrix among the environmental variables used to characterize 16 house sparrow populations in France. * and ** indicates P values ≤0.05 and ≤0.01, respectively.

<p>Pearson’s correlation coefficient matrix among the environmental variables used to characterize 16 house sparrow populations in France. * and ** indicates P values ≤0.05 and ≤0.01, respectively.</p

Geographical localization of the 16 house sparrow populations sampled in this study.

<p>I - Paris (Jardin des Plantes), II - Cachan, III - Wissous, IV - Cosne-Cours sur Loire, V - Rully, 6 - Paris (Cité internationale universitaire), 7 - Gennevilliers, 8 - Le Mans, 9 - Crégy les Meaux, 10 - Berck, 11 - Thieux, 12 - Seninghem, 13 - Ceffonds, 14 - Crennes, 15 - Réaup-Lisse and 16 - Arles. The five populations in roman numbers were sampled for parasite prevalence and intensity. The zoomed region, in the upper right corner, corresponds to the region Ile de France. Scale bar, 100 km for France and 30 km for the region Ile de France.</p

(a) Negative correlation between Pb concentration in feathers and the axis 1 of the principal component analysis on environmental variables (see materials and methods for more details).

<p>(b) Positive correlation between Cd concentration in feathers and the axis 3 of the principal component analysis. Each point represents a house sparrow population.</p

Climate data 02 Oct 2011

Climate data 02 Oct 201

First Evidence and Predictions of <em>Plasmodium</em> Transmission in Alaskan Bird Populations

<div><p>The unprecedented rate of change in the Arctic climate is expected to have major impacts on the emergence of infectious diseases and host susceptibility to these diseases. It is predicted that malaria parasites will spread to both higher altitudes and latitudes with global warming. Here we show for the first time that avian <em>Plasmodium</em> transmission occurs in the North American Arctic. Over a latitudinal gradient in Alaska, from 61°N to 67°N, we collected blood samples of resident and migratory bird species. We found both residents and hatch year birds infected with <em>Plasmodium</em> as far north as 64°N, providing clear evidence that malaria transmission occurs in these climates. Based on our empirical data, we make the first projections of the habitat suitability for <em>Plasmodium</em> under a future-warming scenario in Alaska. These findings raise new concerns about the spread of malaria to naïve host populations.</p> </div

GPS coordinates, altitude, number of infected resident birds (<i>N</i> infected/<i>N</i> total), numbers of migratory hatch year (HY) and after hatch year (AHY) individuals infected with <i>Plasmodium</i> spp. are given by location.

<p>Residents and hatch year migratory birds were infected by one lineage <i>Plasmodium</i> P43 whereas after hatch year migratory birds were infected by six lineages of <i>Plasmodium</i> spp (see Supporting Information).</p

Predictive map of suitable conditions of current and future <i>Plasmodium</i> transmission in Alaska with location of sampling sites in each of the three latitudes: Anchorage, Fairbanks and Coldfoot.

<p>Map created in ArcMap 10 (Environmental Systems Resource Institute, ArcMap 10.0 ESRI, Redlands, California).</p