Current reproductive effort shapes the response to infection in a passerine bird.

ABSTRACT: When infected with a pathogen, a host may respond with an acute phase response to increase its chances of survival. Previous research shows that one fundamental component of the acute phase response, adjustments of body temperature, may differ depending on ambient temperature, social settings and energy availability. However, we do not know much about how such a response is modulated during work-intensive reproductive events. Therefore, we subjected breeding female blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus that were raising experimentally enlarged broods or normal-sized broods to a mimicked bacterial infection. We quantified their subsequent body temperature response and haptoglobin concentrations together with the effect on parental work rate and breeding performance. Immune challenged females with e

SUBMITTER: Andreasson F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12424287 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature