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Leukocyte counts in different populations of Antarctic Pygoscelid penguins along the Antarctic Peninsula

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Abstract

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the areas where the climate is changing at the fastest pace, having several effects on the populations of pygoscelid penguins. Few studies have analysed the variation in immune parameters of antarctic birds in a geographical context; thus, analyses of geographical differences in the immune components of wild pygoscelid penguins are still scarce. Leukocyte counts in birds provide information on their immunity and physiological stress. The objective of this study was to analyse the leukocyte counts in penguins of the genus Pygoscelis (gentoo, Adélie and chinstrap penguins), covering sites along the South Shetland Islands and some islands on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our results revealed differences in the number of heterophils and eosinophils and in the heterophil/lymphocyte ratio in the northeastern populations of gentoo and Adélie penguins as compared to the rest of the colonies studied. The results contribute to better understanding of the variations in physiological parameters of penguins related to a geographical context.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the hospitality and logistic support of the Argentinean Antarctic Base “Carlini” and the Spanish Antarctic Base “Gabriel de Castilla”. We also thank the Spanish Polar Ship “Las Palmas”, which provided us with the logistic support and transport to the localities. We thank the logistic support provided by the Marine Technology Unit (CSIC) and Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA). Permission to work in the study area and for penguin handling was given by the Spanish Polar Committee. We are very grateful to B. Fusaro and L. Longarzo for their help at “Carlini”. We thank Dr. Ralph Eric Thijl Vanstreels and the two anonymous reviewers for their insights, which have significantly improved our manuscript. Ma. Victoria Gonzalez Eusevi from Ingles Científico (www.inglescientifico.com) corrected the English language of the manuscript. This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant CGL2007-60369 and CTM2011-24427). VLD had a CONICET Postdoctoral fellowship and VV was supported by a Ph.D. Grant from the Spanish Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) and the European Social Fund (JAEPre08-01053). This study is a contribution to the International Polar Year project Birdhealth and to PINGUCLIM project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Nacional Patagónico, CONICET, Boulevard Brown 2915, 9120, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina

    Verónica L. D’Amico & Bertellotti Marcelo

  2. Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120, La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain

    Jesús Benzal

  3. Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, C1010AAZ, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Néstor Coria

  4. Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Virginia Vidal

  5. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (CONICET), Calle 120 s/n, 1900, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Julia I. Diaz

  6. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Andrés Barbosa

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  1. Verónica L. D’Amico
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  2. Bertellotti Marcelo
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  3. Jesús Benzal
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  4. Néstor Coria
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  5. Virginia Vidal
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  6. Julia I. Diaz
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  7. Andrés Barbosa
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Correspondence to Verónica L. D’Amico.

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D’Amico, V.L., Marcelo, B., Benzal, J. et al. Leukocyte counts in different populations of Antarctic Pygoscelid penguins along the Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biol 39, 199–206 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1771-3

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