Immune challenge reduces daily activity period in free-living birds for three weeks.
Proc Biol Sci
; 290(2005): 20230794, 2023 08 30.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37583320
ABSTRACT
Non-lethal infections are common in free-living animals and the associated sickness behaviours can impact crucial life-history trade-offs. However, little is known about the duration and extent of such sickness behaviours in free-living animals, and consequently how they affect life-history decisions. Here, free-living Eurasian blackbirds, Turdus merula, were immune-challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic a bacterial infection and their behaviour was monitored for up to 48 days using accelerometers. As expected, immune-challenged birds were less active than controls within the first 24 h. Unexpectedly, this reduced activity remained detectable for 20 days, before both groups returned to similar activity levels. Furthermore, activity was positively correlated with a pre-experimental index of complement activity, but only in immune-challenged birds, suggesting that sickness behaviours are modulated by constitutive immune function. Differences in daily activity levels stemmed from immune-challenged birds resting earlier at dusk than control birds, while activity levels between groups were similar during core daytime hours. Overall, activity was reduced by 19% in immune-challenged birds and they were on average almost 1 h less active per day for 20 days. This unexpected longevity in sickness behaviour may have severe implications during energy-intense annual-cycle stages (e.g. breeding, migration, winter). Thus, our data help to understand the consequences of non-lethal infections on free-living animals.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Infecções Bacterianas
/
Aves Canoras
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Biol Sci
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Suécia