Selection on innate immunity and body condition in Florida scrub-jays throughout an epidemic |
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Authors: | Travis E Wilcoxen Raoul K Boughton Stephan J Schoech |
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Institution: | 1.Department of Biology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA;2.Archbold Biological Station, Avian Ecology Lab, Venus, FL 33960, USA |
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Abstract: | Opportunities to investigate selection in free-living species during a naturally occurring epidemic are rare; however, we assessed innate immunocompetence in Florida scrub-jays before the population suffered the greatest over-winter mortality in 20 years of study. Propitiously, three months prior to the epidemic, we had sampled a number of male breeders to evaluate a suite of physiological measures that are commonly used to estimate the overall health-state of an individual. There was a significant, positive selection gradient for both Escherichia coli bacterial killing capability and body condition, suggesting that directional selection had occurred upon each of these traits during the disease epidemic. |
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Keywords: | Aphelocoma coerulescens ecoimmunology directional selection |
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