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Spatial Variation in the Inflammatory Response of House Sparrows in their Native Range

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Abstract

Characterizing spatial differences in wildlife immunity is the first step to identify environmental drivers of host defense and disease risks. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a model system for ecoimmunology, but spatial differences in immunity have been largely restricted to the invasive range of this global species. We provide an initial test of spatial variation in immune response to phytohemagglutinin in the native range, finding that birds from Romania have greater inflammatory responses than birds from Egypt. Future broad surveys across the house sparrow native range could contextualize these differences and determine underlying drivers.

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Figure 1

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Raw data are included as Electronic Supplemental Material.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by grant CEEX ET 94/2006 to PLP and GÁC and grant PN-III-P1-1_1-2021-0502 to CIV, both from the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

    Daniel J. Becker & Jessie M. Merrifield

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Jessie M. Merrifield

  3. Evolutionary Ecology Group, Centre for Systems Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresources, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Csongor I. Vágási & Péter L. Pap

  4. Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Gábor Á. Czirják

  5. Department of Wildlife Diseases, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany

    Gábor Á. Czirják

Authors
  1. Daniel J. Becker
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  2. Jessie M. Merrifield
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  3. Csongor I. Vágási
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  4. Gábor Á. Czirják
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  5. Péter L. Pap
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel J. Becker.

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Becker, D.J., Merrifield, J.M., Vágási, C.I. et al. Spatial Variation in the Inflammatory Response of House Sparrows in their Native Range. EcoHealth 20, 231–235 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-023-01652-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-023-01652-9

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