Parent Kittiwakes experience a decrease in cell-mediated immunity as they breed

Abstract The maintenance of an effective immune system may entail physiological costs only affordable by individuals in good condition. Some species, like Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) in the high arctic, experience important physiological changes during breeding in order to fulfil thei...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Ornithology
Language:English
Published: Springer-Verlag 2011
Subjects:
Costs of reproduction
Immunocompetence
PHA
Phytohemagglutinin
High arctic
Rissa tridactyla
Arctic
Norway
Avda
Langset
Norwegian Polar Institute
rissa tridactyla
Troms
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2262/53543
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0510-3
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Summary:Abstract The maintenance of an effective immune system may entail physiological costs only affordable by individuals in good condition. Some species, like Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) in the high arctic, experience important physiological changes during breeding in order to fulfil their reproductive goals. We studied the effects of breeding effort on the cell-mediated immunity (CMI) of adult breeding Kittiwakes. Parent Kittiwakes showed a significant decrease in CMI from hatching to 15 days into the chick-rearing period, when both parents are known to experience a drastic increase in energy expenditure together with important physiological adjustments. Despite being a long-lived species with biparental care, parent Kittiwakes at the northern border of their breeding range, seem to experience important reproductive immunosupression, even during favourable breeding years. phone: +34-954-466700 (Broggi, Juli) juli@ebd.csic.es (Broggi, Juli) Department of Biology, Oulu University - 90014 - Oulu - FINLAND (Broggi, Juli) Estacion Biologica Do?ana, CSIC - Avda. Americo Vespucio s/n - 1092 - Sevilla - SPAIN (Broggi, Juli) Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - 7491 - Trondheim - NORWAY (Langset, Magdalene) Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - 7491 - Trondheim - NORWAY (R?nning, Bernt) Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Environmental Center - 9296 - Troms? - NORWAY (Welcker, Jorg) Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - 7491 - Trondheim - NORWAY (Bech, Claus) FINLAND NORWAY SPAIN Registration: 2010-03-01 Received: 2009-09-16 Revised: 2010-02-08 Accepted: 2010-03-01 ePublished: 2010-03-17

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