@misc{10481/92564,
year = {2024},
month = {2},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/92564},
abstract = {This study aimed to investigate the variations of parasites in the feces of brown bears Ursus arctos inhabiting the
Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). A total of 248 bear fecal samples were collected throughout one year,
spanning from August 2018 to September 2019, at an approximate frequency of 20 samples per month. The
results were analyzed in relation to both the season and the biological activity of the brown bears, i.e., hibernation,
mating and hyperphagia. Among the examined samples, eggs of Dicrocoelium dendriticum (32.2%; 95%
Confidence Interval: 26.4–38.1), Baylisascaris sp. (44.8%; 38.5–50.9), ancylostomatids (probably belonging to
Uncinaria spp.) (16.5%; 11.9–21.1) and Trichuris sp. (1.2%; 0–2.6) were observed. Significant seasonal differences
were noted for Baylisascaris and ancylostomatids (χ2 = 21.02, P = 0.001 and χ2 = 34.41, P = 0.001,
respectively). Furthermore, the presence of helminth eggs was correlated with the activity phase of the brown
bears. Dicrocoelium attained the highest prevalence during the mating phase, while Baylisascaris and ancylostomatids
were more frequent during hyperphagia. Notably, the highest egg-output counts for Dicrocoelium and
Baylisascaris sp. were recorded during the mating phase and hibernation, respectively, whereas ancylostomatids
eggs peaked during hyperphagia. Additionally, variations in egg-output counts were significant for all helminths
concerning the season, with the exception of Trichuris sp., and for Dicrocoelium and Baylisascaris sp. According to
bear activity. It is concluded that infection by gastrointestinal helminths depends on the season and the biological
activity of the bears from the Cantabrian Mountains, and their health status could result influenced.},
organization = {Bear projects CGL2017-82782-P and PID2020-114181GB-I00, which were funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU)},
organization = {Proyect ED431B 2021/07 (Consellería de Cultura,
Xunta de Galicia, Spain)},
organization = {Margarita Salas contract financed by the European Union-Next Generation EU, Ministerio de Universidades y Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia, through the call of the Universidad de Oviedo (Asturias, Spain)},
publisher = {Elsevier},
keywords = {Ursus arctos},
keywords = {NW Spain},
keywords = {Endoparasites},
title = {Influence of seasonality and biological activity on infection by helminths in Cantabrian bear},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijppaw.2024.100916},
author = {Valderrábano Cano, Esther and Penteriani, Vincenzo and Vega, Iris and Delgado, María del Mar and González Bernardo, Enrique and Bombieri, Giulia and Zarzo Arias, Alejandra and Sánchez-Andrade Fernández, Rita and Paz Silva, Adolfo},
}