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Growth rate and hatching date in ostrich chicks reflect humoral but not cell-mediated immune function

Bonato, Maud ; Evans, Matthew R. ; Hasselquist, Dennis LU ; Cloete, Schalk W. P. and Cherry, Michael I. (2009) In Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 64(2). p.183-191
Abstract
A tradeoff between immune response and life history traits, in particular growth rate, has been documented in various bird species. Ostriches are fast-growing birds and a typical feature of cohorts is that offspring often differ greatly in size. We investigated the relationship between hatching date and growth rate of chicks and both cell-mediated (measured using a phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) injection) and humoral immune responses in ostrich chicks maintained on a research farm. Chicks with higher growth rates had intermediate responses to both diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. By contrast, no relation between growth rates and responses to PHA injection were found. We conclude that chick growth rate variation may be explained beyond a certain... (More)
A tradeoff between immune response and life history traits, in particular growth rate, has been documented in various bird species. Ostriches are fast-growing birds and a typical feature of cohorts is that offspring often differ greatly in size. We investigated the relationship between hatching date and growth rate of chicks and both cell-mediated (measured using a phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) injection) and humoral immune responses in ostrich chicks maintained on a research farm. Chicks with higher growth rates had intermediate responses to both diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. By contrast, no relation between growth rates and responses to PHA injection were found. We conclude that chick growth rate variation may be explained beyond a certain threshold by a tradeoff between the humoral response and growth. Both responses to PHA injection and humoral responses in chicks were found to decrease with chick hatching date. Within the context of ostrich farming, these results could partially explain size variations observed in cohorts of chicks, as well as high mortality rates during their first 3 months of age. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Growth rate, Immune response, Stabilising selection, Seasonal effect, Struthio camelus
in
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
volume
64
issue
2
pages
183 - 191
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000271978300004
  • scopus:77950539824
ISSN
1432-0762
DOI
10.1007/s00265-009-0835-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2d411ad0-9d65-49db-a71c-53dee5f13c68 (old id 1518524)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:24:30
date last changed
2022-01-28 00:29:42
@article{2d411ad0-9d65-49db-a71c-53dee5f13c68,
  abstract     = {{A tradeoff between immune response and life history traits, in particular growth rate, has been documented in various bird species. Ostriches are fast-growing birds and a typical feature of cohorts is that offspring often differ greatly in size. We investigated the relationship between hatching date and growth rate of chicks and both cell-mediated (measured using a phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) injection) and humoral immune responses in ostrich chicks maintained on a research farm. Chicks with higher growth rates had intermediate responses to both diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. By contrast, no relation between growth rates and responses to PHA injection were found. We conclude that chick growth rate variation may be explained beyond a certain threshold by a tradeoff between the humoral response and growth. Both responses to PHA injection and humoral responses in chicks were found to decrease with chick hatching date. Within the context of ostrich farming, these results could partially explain size variations observed in cohorts of chicks, as well as high mortality rates during their first 3 months of age.}},
  author       = {{Bonato, Maud and Evans, Matthew R. and Hasselquist, Dennis and Cloete, Schalk W. P. and Cherry, Michael I.}},
  issn         = {{1432-0762}},
  keywords     = {{Growth rate; Immune response; Stabilising selection; Seasonal effect; Struthio camelus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{183--191}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology}},
  title        = {{Growth rate and hatching date in ostrich chicks reflect humoral but not cell-mediated immune function}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0835-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00265-009-0835-1}},
  volume       = {{64}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}