Testing the predictive adaptive response in a host‐parasite system ...

• Main Authors: Devevey, Godefroy, Bize, Pierre, Fournier, Sara, Person, Emilie, Christe, Philippe
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2010
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Common vole; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13513491; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13513491

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Summary 1. Harsh environmental conditions experienced during development can reduce the performance of the same individuals in adulthood. However, the 'predictive adaptive response' hypothesis postulates that if individuals adapt their phenotype during development to the environments where they are likely to live in the future, individuals exposed to harsh conditions in early life perform better when encountering the same harsh conditions in adulthood compared to those never exposed to these conditions before. 2. Using the common vole ( Microtus arvalis ) as study organism, we tested how exposure to flea parasitism during the juvenile stage affects the physiology (haematocrit, resistance to oxidative stress, resting metabolism, spleen mass, and testosterone), morphology (body mass, testis mass) and motor performance (open field activity and swimming speed) of the same individuals when infested with fleas in adulthood. According to the 'predictive adaptive ...