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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Social Immunity And The Expression Of Immune-Related Genes In The Eastern Subterranean Termite, Qi Gao
Social Immunity And The Expression Of Immune-Related Genes In The Eastern Subterranean Termite, Qi Gao
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Individuals living within social groups may benefit from the efficiencies of division of labour, but on the other hand render themselves vulnerable to socially transmitted disease. This cost to social living should promote cooperative barriers to disease transmission, especially in eusocial taxa where spatial and genetic proximity to nestmates are characteristically pronounced. Though studies of the immunity at multiple levels in social species are becoming more common, little is known about how their sociality is deployed to resist contagion. By exposing the Eastern subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes to entomopathogenic fungi, I studied their immune responses at multiple levels. At the …
Immune Function And Infection Status Is Related To Migration Distance And Phases Of The Annual Cycle In Song Sparrows (Melospiza Melodia), Tosha R. Kelly
Immune Function And Infection Status Is Related To Migration Distance And Phases Of The Annual Cycle In Song Sparrows (Melospiza Melodia), Tosha R. Kelly
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Life history theory predicts animals adjust immune investment based on their risk of encountering familiar and unfamiliar parasites. Although long-distance migrants may encounter a greater diversity of parasites than short-distance migrants, the energetic costs of migration may constrain immune investment. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between migration distance and immunity. I used stable isotope analysis to estimate the wintering latitude, and thus migration distance, of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). I assessed whether migration distance was related to the incidence of infection with a blood-borne parasite, parasite load, and immune function. The incidence of infection increased with …