Life Sciences Commons^™

Female Salamanders Experience Higher Parasitism Compared To Males: A Cost Of Female Reproduction?, Matthew D. Venesky, Joseph Alan Demarchi, Rachel Marbach, Keva Periyar, Cari-Ann M. Hickerson, Carl D. Anthony

2020 Faculty Bibliography

Males tend to experience higher rates of parasitism compared to females, a phenomenon associated with ecological factors, the fact that males engage in risky behaviors, and because testosterone is known to be immunosuppressive. However, females could experience higher rates of parasitism if energy is allocated from costly immune responses towards producing eggs. We used pooled data sets from laboratory experiments to investigate sex-specific differences in salamander (Plethodon cinereus) resistance to the emerging fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (‘‘Bd’’). Contrary to our predictions, we found that female salamanders had a higher prevalence of infection (~56%) and carried a higher Bd infection burden …