期刊
AMERICAN NATURALIST
卷 197, 期 3, 页码 324-335出版社
UNIV CHICAGO PRESS
DOI: 10.1086/712633
关键词
wild mammal; fitness costs; helminths; survival; reproduction; path analysis
资金
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/L00688X/1, NE/L002558/1]
- Scottish government (Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services [RESAS], Strategic Research Programmes 2016-2021)
- NERC [NE/R001456/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/L00688X/1, NE/R001456/1] Funding Source: researchfish
This study demonstrates that increased parasite burdens in lactating female wild animals can lead to decreased fitness in terms of survival, fecundity, calf weight, and parturition date in the following year, providing observational evidence for the regulation of life-history trade-offs by parasites.
Reproduction in wild animals can divert limited resources away from immune defense, resulting in increased parasite burdens. A long-standing prediction of life-history theory states that these parasites can harm the reproductive individual, reducing its subsequent survival and fecundity, producing reproduction-fitness trade-offs. Here, we examined associations among reproductive allocation, immunity, parasitism, and subsequent survival and fecundity in a wild population of individually identified red deer (Cervus elaphus). Using path analysis, we investigated whether costs of lactation in terms of downstream survival and fecundity were mediated by changes in strongyle nematode count and mucosal antibody levels. Lactating females exhibited increased parasite counts, which were in turn associated with substantially decreased fitness in the following year in terms of overwinter survival, fecundity, subsequent calf weight, and parturition date. This study offers observational evidence for parasite regulation of multiple life-history trade-offs, supporting the role of parasites as an important mediating factor in wild mammal populations.
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