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Immunity and fitness in a wild population of Eurasian kestrels Falco tinnunculus

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Abstract

The immune system of vertebrates consists of several components that partly interact and complement each other. Therefore, the assessment of the overall effectiveness of immune defence requires the simultaneous measurement of different immune components. In this study, we investigated intraspecific variability of innate [i.e. natural antibodies (NAb) and complement] and acquired (i.e. leucocyte profiles) immunity and its relationship with fitness correlates (i.e. blood parasite load and reproductive success in adults and body mass and survival until fledging in nestlings) in the Eurasian kestrel Falco tinnunculus. Immunity differed between nestlings and adults and also between adult males and females. Adult kestrels with higher levels of complement were less parasitised by Haemoproteus, and males with higher values of NAbs showed a higher reproductive success. In nestlings, the H/L ratio was negatively related to body mass. Survival until fledging was predicted by all measured immunological variables of nestlings as well as by their fathers' level of complement. This is the first time that innate immunity is linked to survival in a wild bird. Thus, intraspecific variation in different components of immunity predicts variation in fitness prospects in kestrels, which highlights the importance of measuring innate immune components together with components of the acquired immunity in studies assessing the effectiveness of the immune system in wild animals.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all people who collaborated in data collection either in the field (M. Guillemin, M. Kriloff, C. Landsmann, V. Lartigot and X. Mandine) or in the laboratory (J. M. Gasent, A. Moreno). C. Navarro helped us in the laboratory. Three anonymous referees and J. M. Avilés provided interesting suggestions to the manuscript. This research work was funded by the European Social Fund (doctoral grant to NS and I3P contract to DP) and by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia-FEDER, Secretaría de Estado de Universidades e Investigación (project ref. CGL2005-04654/BOS). Fieldwork was done under permission of the Junta de Extremadura and complying with the Spanish laws.

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  1. Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, CSIC, C/ General Segura 1, 04001, Almería, Spain

    Deseada Parejo

  2. Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR CNRS-UPS 5174, Université Paul Sabatier–Toulouse III, 118 Route de Narbonne Bat IV R3 entrée b2, 31062, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

    Nadia Silva

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  1. Deseada Parejo
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Correspondence to Deseada Parejo.

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Parejo, D., Silva, N. Immunity and fitness in a wild population of Eurasian kestrels Falco tinnunculus . Naturwissenschaften 96, 1193–1202 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0584-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0584-z

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