Leukocyte Profiles Reflect Geographic Range Limits in a Widespread Neotropical Bat.

ABSTRACT: Quantifying how the environment shapes host immune defense is important for understanding which wild populations may be more susceptible or resistant to pathogens. Spatial variation in parasite risk, food and predator abundance, and abiotic conditions can each affect immunity, and these factors can also manifest at both local and biogeographic scales. Yet identifying predictors and the spatial scale of their effects is limited by the rarity of studies that measure immunity across many populations of broadly distributed species. We analyzed leukocyte profiles from 39 wild populations of the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) across its wide geographic range throughout the Neotropics. White blood cell differentials varied spatially, with proportions of neutrophils and lymphocytes varying

SUBMITTER: Becker DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6907035 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature