Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Environmental proxies of antigen exposure explain variation in immune investment better than indices of pace of life
Author(s)
Horrocks, N.P.C.;Hegemann, A.;Ostrowski, S.;Ndithia, H.;Shobrak, M.;Williams, J.B.;Matson, K.D.;Tieleman, B.I.
Published
2015
Publisher
Oecologia
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3136-y
Abstract
Investment in immune defences is predicted to covary with a variety of ecologically and evolutionarily relevant axes, with pace of life and environmental antigen exposure being two examples. These axes may themselves covary directly or inversely, and such relationships can lead to conflicting predictions regarding immune investment. If pace of life shapes immune investment then, following life history theory, slow-living, arid zone and tropical species should invest more in immunity than fast-living temperate species. Alternatively, if antigen exposure drives immune investment, then species in antigen-rich tropical and temperate environments are predicted to exhibit higher immune indices than species from antigen-poor arid locations. To test these contrasting predictions we investigated how variation in pace of life and antigen exposure influence immune investment in related lark species (Alaudidae) with differing life histories and predicted risks of exposure to environmental microbes and parasites. We used clutch size and total number of eggs laid per year as indicators of pace of life, and aridity, and the climatic variables that influence aridity, as correlates of antigen abundance. We quantified immune investment by measuring four indices of innate immunity. Pace of life explained little of the variation in immune investment, and only one immune measure correlated significantly with pace of life, but not in the predicted direction. Conversely, aridity, our proxy for environmental antigen exposure, was predictive of immune investment, and larks in more mesic environments had higher immune indices than those living in arid, low-risk locations. Our study suggests that abiotic environmental variables with strong ties to environmental antigen exposure can be important correlates of immunological variation.
Keywords
Alaudidae;Aridity;Ecological immunology;Lark;Life history;Alaudidae;Aridity;Ecological immunology;Lark;Life history;female pied flycatchers;tropical birds;trade-offs;ecological;immunology;microbial diversity;natural antibodies;aridity gradient;south-africa;history;patterns;Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB15537