Experimental evidence of high tick infestation limiting chick growth and survival in a colonial seabird by Teresa Militão, Augustin Clessin, Amandine Gamble, José Pedro Granadeiro, Thierry Boulinier, Paulo Catry

“…Here, we evaluated whether Ixodes uriae, a widespread seabird tick, can cause a decrease in growth parameters (body mass, bill length and growth rates) and survival of chicks of a colonially seabird, the black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) breeding on New Island (West Falkland). To investigate this, we daily removed the ticks from 28 randomly selected chicks during their first 14 days of life (treated chicks) and compared their growth and survival with 49 chicks of a control group. …”
Get full text