0 a bird with a round body and a short tail that is sometimes hunted for food or for sport, or the meat of this bird
Thus, helminth communities from red-legged partridge populations with high density exhibited a structure nearer to nestedness than helminth communities from partridge populations with low density.
In agreement with these hypotheses, our results suggest that an increase in partridge population density amplified the positive interassemblage relationship between intensity and prevalence.
Six were given an identical oral dose of the embryonated egg solution as that given to the grey partridges and 6 the saline solution only.
This relation may suggest the possibility of a sampling bias due to the method used to capture partridges.
Increases in the partridge population abundance index and the prevalence and mean intensity of infection were associated with increases in helminth community nestedness.
Thus, although changes in colonization processes associated with partridge density may cause variations in nestedness, this does not preclude other effects of parasite habitat heterogeneity.
The partridges were dissected and the digestive tract, lungs and liver were examined for helminths.
This is the first detailed description of an outbreak of avian pox in wild partridges.