Fitness costs associated with mounting a social immune response.
Ecol Lett
; 13(9): 1114-23, 2010 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20545735
ABSTRACT
Social immune systems comprise immune defences mounted by individuals for the benefit of others (sensuCotter & Kilner 2010a). Just as with other forms of immunity, mounting a social immune response is expected to be costly but so far these fitness costs are unknown. We measured the costs of social immunity in a sub-social burying beetle, a species in which two or more adults defend a carrion breeding resource for their young by smearing the flesh with antibacterial anal exudates. Our experiments on widowed females reveal that a bacterial challenge to the breeding resource upregulates the antibacterial activity of a female's exudates, and this subsequently reduces her lifetime reproductive success. We suggest that the costliness of social immunity is a source of evolutionary conflict between breeding adults on a carcass, and that the phoretic communities that the beetles transport between carrion may assist the beetle by offsetting these costs.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Comportamento Social
/
Besouros
/
Imunidade Coletiva
/
Anti-Infecciosos
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2010
Tipo de documento:
Article