Figure 1.

Associations between the ectoparasitism intensity of hoopoe nestlings and bacterial loads of nest-materials that were (filled dots) or were not (open dots) autoclaved before reproduction started in the 2017 (A) and 2018 (B) study years. We also show weighted means (±95% CI) of ectoparasitism intensity suffered by hoopoe nestlings developing in nest-boxes with nest-material that were or were not autoclaved in the 2017 and 2018 breeding seasons (C). Finally, (D) we also show the association between ectoparasitism intensity and laying date of hoopoe nests with autoclaved or not autoclaved nest-material. Solid and dashed lines are regression lines for experimental and control nest-boxes.