Farah Ishtiaq

Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (INDIA) · Field Ecology and Vector Population Genetics

Environmental temperature is a key driver of malaria transmission dynamics. Using detailed temperature records from four sites: low elevation (1800), mid elevation (2200 m), and high elevation (2600–3200 m) in the western Himalaya, we model how temperature regulates parasite development rate (the inverse of the extrinsic incubation period, EIP) in...

Mosquitoes are globally distributed and adapted to a broad range of environmental conditions. As obligatory hosts of many infectious pathogens, mosquito abundance and distribution are primarily determined by the presence and quality of larval habitats. To understand the dynamics and productivity of larval habitats in changing island environments, w...

Environmental temperature is a key driver of malaria transmission dynamics. Using detailed temperature records from four sites (1800-3200m) in the western Himalaya, we model how temperature regulates parasite development rate (the inverse of the extrinsic incubation period, EIP) in the wild. Using a Briére parametrization of the EIP, combined with...

Malaria is the deadliest of all mosquito-borne diseases. Thousands of malaria parasite species exploit squamate reptiles, birds, and mammals as vertebrate hosts as well as dipteran vectors. Among these, avian malaria and related parasites have revealed an extensive genetic diversity as well as phenotypic diversity with varying virulence, host range...

The Himalayan region is a global biodiversity hotspot that faces severe pressures from a growing human population, rapid urbanization and climate change. While taxa like birds, plants and butterflies have been effectively surveyed along vast elevational gradients, there is immense paucity in such data for nocturnal and secretive animals like bats....

Understanding population genetic structure of climate‐sensitive herbivore species is important as it provides useful insights on how shifts in environmental conditions can alter their distribution and abundance. Herbivore responses to the environment can have a strong indirect cascading effect on community structure. This is particularly important...

Plant‐herbivore interactions provide critical insights into the mechanisms that govern the spatiotemporal distributions of organisms. These interactions are crucial to understanding the impacts of climate change, which are likely to have an effect on the population dynamics of alpine herbivores. The Royle's pika (Ochotona roylei, hereafter pika) is...

Background: Laughingthrushes (family: Leiothrichidae) consists of diverse and widespread species found in the Indian subcontinent but there is a lack of information on their avian haemosporidians. Methods : We sampled 231 laughingthrushes of 8 species in the western and eastern Himalaya in India. Using parasite morphology and cytochrome b sequences...

Background: Montane birds which engage in elevational movements have evolved to cope with fluctuations in environmental hypoxia, through changes in physiological parameters associated with blood oxygen-carrying capacity such as haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and haematocrit (Hct). In particular, elevational migrants which winter at low elevations,...

Montane birds which engage in elevational movements have evolved to cope with fluctuations in environmental hypoxia, through changes in physiological parameters associated with blood oxygen-carrying capac-ity such as haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and haematocrit (Hct). In particular, elevational migrants which winter at low elevations, encounter v...

Quantitative field data on sexual dimorphism is scant for most bird species. In this first field study of a western Himalayan population of Green-backed Tits (Parus monticolus), we demonstrate that breast stripe width is a dimorphic trait that is a reliable measure to sex this species in the wild. Based on our ability to sex the birds in hand, we d...

India has the climatic conditions conducive to year-round transmission of Zika virus, and a structured disease surveillance program should be implemented to prevent an outbreak. Such a program should (i) start screening before an outbreak arises; (ii) collect baseline data to assess future disease risk and monitor potential birth defects; and (iii)...

We examined seasonal prevalence in avian haemosporidians (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in migrant and resident birds in western Himalaya, India. We investigated how infection with haemosporidians in avian hosts is associated with temporal changes in temperature and mosquito abundance along with host abundance and life-history traits (body mass). Us...

This is the first molecular study of avian haemosporidia diversity in wintering populations of the Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum) in India that explores the extent of host and geographical shifts in transmission areas. In 156 birds, six Haemoproteus lineages (37.8%; 95% CI 30.41–45.82%) and one Plasmodium lineage (1.9%; 95% CI 0.053–...

Background Birds harbour an astonishing diversity of haemosporidian parasites. Renewed interest in avian haemosporidians as a model system has placed a greater emphasis on the development of screening protocols to estimate parasite prevalence and diversity. Prevalence estimates are often based on the molecular or blood-smear microscopy techniques....

[ Proc. R. Soc. B 283 , 20162201. (Published 30 November 2016). ([doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.2201][2])][2] Dr Farah Ishtiaq has been added as the fourth author and the institutional affiliation is Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560012, India. Dr

Pathogens can influence the success of invaders. The Enemy Release Hypothesis predicts invaders encounter reduced pathogen abundance and diversity, while the Novel Weapons Hypothesis predicts invaders carry novel pathogens that spill over to competitors. We tested these hypotheses using avian malaria (haemosporidian) infections in the invasive myna...

1.Host-parasite interactions have the potential to influence broad scale ecological and evolutionary processes, levels of endemism, divergence patterns and distributions in host populations. Understanding the mechanisms involved requires identification of the factors that shape parasite distribution and prevalence. 2.A lack of comparative informati...

Captive breeding and ex situ conservation have become important tools in species conservation programmes. The effectiveness of the management of captive populations can be hampered by the absence of pedigree data, but molecular markers can be used to inform conservation objectives and reduce inbreeding in the captive population. Using microsatellit...

Speciation generally involves a three-step process-range expansion, range fragmentation and the development of reproductive isolation between spatially separated populations. Speciation relies on cycling through these three steps and each may limit the rate at which new species form. We estimate phylogenetic relationships among all Himalayan songbi...

Wild waterbirds sampled July 2006-September 2009 in Mongolia were tested for antibodies to avian influenza (AI) virus with the use of a commercially available blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Antibodies were detected in 25% (572/2,282) of tested birds representing 26 species, and all antibody-positive samples were from 12 species in the...

The genetic diversity of haematozoan parasites in island avifauna has only recently begun to be explored, despite the potential insight that these data can provide into the history of association between hosts and parasites and the possible threat posed to island endemics. We used mitochondrial DNA sequencing to characterize the diversity of 2 gene...

The great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is an endemic endangered bird of the Indian subcontinent with a declining population, as a result of hunting and continuing habitat loss. In this first genetic study of this little-known species, we investigate the diversity of the mitochondrial DNA (hypervariable control region II and cytochrome b gene...

Resource partitioning in three sympatric stork species: Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) and Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) ) was studied in the Keoladeo National Park, India from October 1994 to May 1997. Little is known about their feeding success in variable water depths and habitat use....

Aim (1) To describe the species–area relationships among communities of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus parasites in different island populations of the same host genus (Aves: Zosterops). (2) To compare distance–decay relationships (turnover) between parasite communities and those with potential avian and dipteran hosts, which differ with respect to th...

Avian malaria and decline of White-backed vulture population Poharkar et al. 1 have reported the pres-ence of a single genotype of avian Plas-modium spp. AP70 in 14 White-backed vultures in Central India. This result and the treatment of ill vultures with an anti-malarial drug, as well as the lack of diclofenac residues implied that malaria could b...

The degree to which haematozoan parasites can exploit a range of vectors and hosts has both ecological and evolutionary implications for their transmission and biogeography. Here we explore the extent to which closely related mosquito species share the same or closely related haematozoan parasites, and examine the overlap in parasite lineages with...

The host specificity of blood parasites recovered from a survey of 527 birds in Cameroon and Gabon was examined at several levels within an evolutionary framework. Unique mitochondrial lineages of Haemoproteus were recovered from an average of 1.3 host species (maximum=3) and 1.2 host families (maximum=3) while lineages of Plasmodium were recovered...

Tissue samples from 699 birds from three regions of Asia (Myanmar, India, and South Korea) were screened for evidence of infection by avian parasites in the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus. Samples were collected from November 1994 to October 2004. We identified 241 infected birds (34.0%). Base-on-sequence data for the cytochrome b gene from 221...

The introduction of avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) to Hawaii has provided a model system for studying the influence of exotic disease on naive host populations. Little is known, however, about the origin or the genetic variation of Hawaii's malaria and traditional classification methods have confounded attempts to place the parasite within a g...

The success of introduced species is frequently explained by their escape from natural enemies in the introduced region. We tested the enemy release hypothesis with respect to two well studied blood parasite genera (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in native and six introduced populations of the common myna Acridotheres tristis. Not all comparisons of...

We used screening techniques based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to explore the avian hematozoan parasites (Plasmodium spp. and Haemoproteus spp.) of two previously uninvestigated regions of continental South America. Comparisons of tropical- zone Guyana and temperate-zone Uruguay revealed that overall prevalence of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus...

The little-known, endemic Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewitti was studied from June 1998 to June 1999 in Maharashtra, India. Vocalizations associated with contact, courtship feeding and food solicitation were recorded and sonagrams are presented for the first time. The nesting period started in October 1998 and continued until May 1999. Four nests we...

Studies conducted in the Keoladeo National Park during 1994-1997 on nest-site selection in the Blacknecked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) and White-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus) showed that girth at breast height (GBH), height and canopy spread were the major factors governing the placement of nests. There were significant differences betwee...

O n 25 November 1997 the Forest Spotted Owlet or Forest Owlet Athene (Heteroglaux) blewitti, which had been "missing" since 1884, was rediscovered by three American ornithologists: Pamela Rasmussen, Ben King and David Abbott. They located a pair in a tropical dry-deciduous forest in the foothills of the Satpura Mountains near Shahada, Maharashtra,...

I studied the hypothesis that density of diatoms would be higher in high current and plants than low current and rocks. Cell density did not differ with current but substrate while species composition of diatom communities varied among substrate than current. http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/54733/1/3174.pdf