Ecological immunology: life history trade-offs and immune defense in birds |
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Authors: | Norris Ken; Evans Matthew R |
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Institution: | a
School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights,
PO Box 228, Reading, RG6 6AJ, UK,
b
Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling,
Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK |
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Abstract: | There has been considerable recent interest in the effects oflife-history
decisions on immunocompetence in birds. If immunocompetenceis limited by
available resources, then trade-offs between investmentin life-history
components and investment in immunocompetencecould be important in
determining optimal life-history traits.For this to be true: (1)
immunocompetence must be limited byresources, (2) investment in life-history
components must benegatively correlated with immunocompetence, and (3)
immunocompetencemust be positively correlated with fitness. To gather such
empiricaldata, ecologists need to be able to measure immunocompetence.We
review techniques used to measure immunocompetence and howthey are applied by
ecologists. We also consider the componentsof the immune system that
constitute immunocompetence and evaluatethe possible consequences of
measuring immunocompetence in differentways. We then review the empirical
evidence for life-historytrade-offs involving immune defense. We conclude
that thereis some evidence suggesting that immunocompetence is limitedby
resources and that investment in certain life-history componentsreduces
immunocompetence. However, the evidence that immunocompetenceis related to
fitness is circumstantial at present, althoughconsistent with the hypothesis
that immunocompetence and fitnessare positively correlated. We argue that
future work needs toexamine the fitness effects of variation in
immunocompetenceand suggest that artificial selection experiments offer a
potentiallyimportant tool for addressing this issue. |
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Keywords: | fitness immune system immunocompetence life-history trade-offs |
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