Life-history stage influences immune investment and oxidative stress in response to environmental heterogeneity in Antarctic fur seals.

ABSTRACT: Immune defenses are crucial for survival but costly to develop and maintain. Increased immune investment is therefore hypothesized to trade-off with other life-history traits. Here, we examined innate and adaptive immune responses to environmental heterogeneity in wild Antarctic fur seals. In a fully crossed, repeated measures design, we sampled 100 pups and their mothers from colonies of contrasting density during seasons of contrasting food availability. Biometric and cortisol data as well as blood for the analysis of 13 immune and oxidative status markers were collected at two key life-history stages. We show that immune responses of pups are more responsive than adults to variation in food availability, but not population density, and are modulated by cortisol and condition. Immune inv

SUBMITTER: Nagel R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11217341 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature