Responses to a warming world: Integrating life history, immune investment, and pathogen resistance in a model insect species.

ABSTRACT: Environmental temperature has important effects on the physiology and life history of ectothermic animals, including investment in the immune system and the infectious capacity of pathogens. Numerous studies have examined individual components of these complex systems, but little is known about how they integrate when animals are exposed to different temperatures. Here, we use the Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) to understand how immune investment and disease resistance react and potentially trade-off with other life-history traits. We recorded life-history (development time, survival, fecundity, and body size) and immunity (hemocyte counts, phenoloxidase activity) measures and tested resistance to bacterial (E. coli) and viral (Plodia interpunctella granulosi

SUBMITTER: Laughton AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5696387 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature