The effect of elevated reproductive effort onhumoral immune function in collared flycatcher females |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Ecosystem Management, School of Environment and Rural Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia;2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Centre for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia;3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand;4. School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia;5. Dept. Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA;6. Department of Land Resource Management, PO Box 496, Palmerston, NT, Australia;7. Arid Recovery, PO Box 147, Roxby Downs, SA, Australia;8. University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia;9. Queensland Department of Science, Information, Technoloty, Innovation and the Arts, Brisbane, QLD, Australia;10. Ecotono, INIBIOMA—CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina;11. Ecological Resources Information Network, Department of the Environment, Canberra, ACT, Australia;12. Department of Conservation, PO Box 10420, Wellington 6143, New Zealand;13. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, PO Box 780, Atherton, QLD, Australia;1. Unidade de Investigação em Eco-Etologia, ISPA — Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal;2. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal;3. Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal;4. Université de Neuchâtel, Institut de Biologie, Eco-Ethologie, Rue Emilie-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland |
| |
| Abstract: | In order to test whether high reproductive investments impair immune function in naturally breeding collared flycatchers, we performed a brood manipulation experiment and simultaneously induced an immune response by challenging birds with a non-pathogenic antigen – sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Females rearing experimentally enlarged number of nestlings showed significantly lower level of specific anti-SRBC antibodies than control females attending unaltered broods, but only in one of the two study years. The haemoconcentration of leukocytes did not differ between the two groups in both study years. The significant difference in immunological responsiveness between control and enlarged group coincided with differences in survival probability to the next breeding season: females attending enlarged broods showed lower probability of survival than control females, but there was no relationship between the level of immune response and survival probability. Our results indicate that reproduction may indeed trade for resources with immune functions at least in terms of specific antibody production. However, as in the other studies on reproductive costs, these costs seem not always to be pronounced. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
