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  • Immune challenge of female great tits at nests affects provisioning and body conditions of their offspring.

Immune challenge of female great tits at nests affects provisioning and body conditions of their offspring.

Acta ethologica (2017-09-29)
Emilia Grzędzicka
ABSTRACT

The trade-off between animal's parental reproductive effort and survival is still poorly understood. Parental allocation between the workload during breeding attempts and the parents' own body conditions can be assessed through the offspring quality. Here, I questioned whether the immune responsiveness of female great tits may be considered as a mediator of this trade-off. Specifically, I tested whether (1) the parental reproductive effort decreases, (2) the food composition provided to chicks changes, and (3) whether the nestling immunocompetence and body mass decrease after experimental immunisation. Two populations of great tit

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
6-Phosphonohexanoic acid, 97%
Sigma-Aldrich
Lectin from Phaseolus vulgaris (red kidney bean), Phytohemagglutinin PHA-P, lyophilized powder