Haemosporidian Parasite Diversity and Prevalence in Migratory and Resident Birds at the Lekki Conservation Centre, Lagos, South West Nigeria

This study characterises haemosporidian blood parasite diversity and prevalence in migratory Palearctic birds and resident species at the Lekki Conservation Centre, Lagos State, South West Nigeria. Migratory birds connecting Palearctic and Afrotropical regions may serve as conduits for haemosporidian parasites between breeding and wintering grounds, but the extent of parasite exchange at West African stopover sites is poorly documented. Blood samples were collected from 280 birds of 42 species mist-netted at the Lekki Conservation Centre between October and March (peak Palearctic migration period) and during the non-migration period. Haemosporidian parasites were detected and characterised by nested PCR targeting cytochrome b, with positive samples sequenced and classified as Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, or Leucocytozoon using MalAvi database comparison. Overall haemosporidian prevalence was 38.2 percent across both seasons. Palearctic migrants showed significantly lower prevalence (22.4%) than resident species (48.6%), consistent with winter immunological tolerance patterns. Plasmodium relictum lineages LINN1 and SGS1 were the most frequently detected parasites in resident passerines. Three novel haemosporidian lineages not previously described were recovered from migratory warblers. Avian body condition was significantly lower in highly parasitaemic individuals at arrival. The study contributes original haemosporidian diversity data for West African stopover sites and provides molecular evidence for restricted parasite sharing between migratory and resident assemblages at this important coastal migration staging site. Keywords: haemosporidian parasites, migratory birds, avian malaria, Lekki Conservation Centre, Lagos.