Reduced investment in immune function in invasion-front populations of the cane toad (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhinella marina</Emphasis>) in Australia |
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Authors: | David Llewellyn Michael B Thompson Gregory P Brown Benjamin L Phillips Richard Shine |
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Institution: | (1) School of Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia;(2) Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia; |
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Abstract: | In an invasive species, selection for increased rates of dispersal at the expanding range front may favor the evolution of
reduced investment into any trait that does not contribute to more rapid dispersal. Thus, populations at the invasion front
may exhibit reduced investment into the immune system. To test this prediction, cane toads (Rhinella marina) from parents collected from populations across the toads’ invasion history in tropical Australia were raised in a standard
environment. When their immune systems were challenged by injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide, the toads’ metabolic
rates rose by up to 40%. The magnitude of elevation in metabolic rate was lower in toads derived from the invasion front than
in those from long-established populations. Our results support the hypothesis that an animal’s investment in immune defenses
can be modified by selective forces that arise in the course of a biological invasion. |
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