The Arctic is entering a new ecological state, with alarming consequences for humanity. Animal-borne sensors offer a window into these changes. Although substantial animal tracking data from the Arctic and subarctic exist, most are difficult to discover and access. Here, we present the new Arctic Animal Movement Archive (AAMA), a growing collection of more than 200 standardized terrestrial and marine animal tracking studies from 1991 to the present. The AAMA supports public data discovery, preserves fundamental baseline data for the future, and facilitates efficient, collaborative data analysis. With AAMA-based case studies, we document climatic influences on the migration phenology of eagles, geographic differences in the adaptive response of caribou reproductive phenology to climate change, and species-specific changes in terrestrial mammal movement rates in response to increasing temperature.

BackgroundHaemoproteus parasites are widespread, and several species cause diseases both in birds and blood-sucking insects. These pathogens are transmitted by dipterans belonging to the Ceratopogonidae and Hippoboscidae, however certain vector species remain unknown for the majority of Haemoproteus spp. Owls are often infected by Haemoproteus parasites, but experimental studies on vectors of these infections are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate sporogonic development of two widespread Haemoproteus parasites of owls, H. noctuae and H. syrnii in experimentally infected biting midges Culicoides impunctatus and Culicoides nubeculosus. We also followed in vitro sporogonic development of these infections and determined their phylogenetic relationships with Haemoproteus spp., for which vectors have been identified.MethodsWild-caught C. impunctatus and laboratory reared C. nubeculosus were infected experimentally by allowing them to take blood meals on one individual long-eared owl (Asio otus) and one tawny owl (Strix aluco) harbouring mature gametocytes of H. noctuae (lineage hCIRCUM01) and H. syrnii (hCULCIB01), respectively. The engorged insects were maintained in the laboratory at 16–18 °C, and dissected at intervals in order to follow the development of ookinetes, oocysts and sporozoites. We also observed in vitro development of sexual stages of both parasites by exposure of infected blood to air. The parasite lineages were determined by polymerase chain reaction-based methods. Bayesian phylogeny was constructed in order to determine the relationships of owl parasites with other avian Haemoproteus spp., for which vectors have been identified.ResultsBoth H. noctuae and H. syrnii completed sporogony in C. nubeculosus, and H. noctuae completed sporogony in C. impunctatus. Ookinetes, oocysts and sporozoites of these parasites were reported and described. Gametes and ookinetes of both species readily developed in vitro. In accordance with sporogony data, the phylogenetic analysis placed both parasite lineages in a clade of Culicoides spp.-transmitted avian Haemoproteus (Parahaemoproteus) spp.ConclusionsCulicoides nubeculosus and C. impunctatus are vectors of H. noctuae and H. syrnii. Phylogenies based on cytochrome b gene indicate parasite-vector relationships, and we recommend using them in predicting possible parasite-vector relationships and planning research on avian Haemoproteus spp. vectors in wildlife.

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Background Haemoproteus parasites are widespread, and some species cause disease in wild and domestic birds. However, the insect vectors remain unknown for the majority of species and genetic lineages of avian Haemoproteus. This information is crucial for better understanding the biology of haemoproteids, the epidemiology of haemoproteosis, and the development of morphological characters of sporogonic stages in wildlife haemosporidian parasites. It remains unclear whether the specificity of Haemoproteus parasites for vectors is broad or the transmission of a given parasite can be restricted to a single or few species of vectors. The aim of this study was to examine the sporogonic development of four species of common European avian haemoproteids in the common biting midge Culicoides impunctatus. MethodsWild-caught females of C. impunctatus were infected experimentally by allowing them to take blood meals on naturally infected Muscicapa striata, Cyanistes caeruleus, Ficedula hypoleuca and Motacilla flava harbouring mature gametocytes of Haemoproteus balmorali (genetic lineage hSFC9), H. majoris (hPARUS1), H. motacillae (hYWT1) and H. pallidus (hPFC1), respectively. Infected insects were collected, maintained under laboratory conditions and dissected daily in order to detect the development of ookinetes, oocysts and sporozoites. Microscopic examination and polymerase chain reaction based methods were used to detect the parasites. Bayesian analysis was applied to identify phylogenetic relationships among Haemoproteus lineages.ResultsAll investigated parasites completed sporogony in C. impunctatus, indicating broad susceptibility of this biting midge for numerous Haemoproteus parasites. Ookinetes, oocysts and sporozoites were reported, described and compared morphologically. The investigated parasite species can be distinguished at the sporogony stage, particularly with regards to the morphology and rate of development of mature ookinetes. Analysis of data from the literature, and this study, shows that 12 genetically distantly related Haemoproteus parasites complete sporogony in C. impunctatus.ConclusionsSusceptibility of C. impunctatus is broad for Haemoproteus parasites, indicating that this biting midge is an important natural vector of numerous species of avian haemoproteids in Europe. Some Haemoproteus species can be readily distinguished using morphological characters of ookinetes and sporozoites, as well as the rate of ookinete development. These characters can be used for the identification of Haemoproteus species during sporogony in vectors, and are worth more attention in these parasite taxonomy studies at the species levels.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2317-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The avian haemosporidian parasite Haemoproteus majoris has been reported to infect a wide range of passerine birds throughout the Holarctic ecozone. Five cytochrome b (cyt b) lineages have been described as belonging to the morphological species H. majoris, and these form a tight phylogenetic cluster together with 13 undescribed lineages that differ from each other by < 1.2% in sequence divergence. Records in a database (MalAvi) that contains global findings of haemosporidian lineages generated by universal primers suggest that these lineages vary substantially in host distribution. We confirm this pattern in a data set collected at Lake Kvismaren, Sweden, where three of the generalist lineages have local transmission. However, whether these lineages represent intraspecific mitochondrial diversity or clusters of cryptic species has previously not been examined. In this study, we developed novel molecular markers to amplify the partial segments of four nuclear genes to determine the level of genetic diversity and gene phylogenies among the five morphologically described cyt b lineages of H. majoris. All five cyt b lineages were strongly associated with unique nuclear alleles at all four nuclear loci, indicating that each mitochondrial lineage represents a distinct biological species. Within lineages, there was no apparent association between nuclear alleles and host species, indicating that they form genetically unstructured populations across multiple host species.