Leukocyte Profiles of House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) in Northwestern Ohio: The Relationship Between Parental Health and Reproductive Success
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Date
2016-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Evolution occurs when species adapt to changes in their environment. Pathogen prevalence in the environment may affect the health of an individual, and in turn, affect that individual's reproductive success. This study uses leukocyte profiles to quantify immune function in House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon), and to determine whether this aspect of the immune system affects individual mass, laying date, clutch size, and offspring size. Blood was drawn from 95 adult House Wrens and physical morphology was recorded. The nestlings' physical morphology was measured at ten days after hatching and averaged per brood. A principal components analysis was used to summarize four differentiated types of white blood cells with two principal component scores. The PC1 score indicated more heterophils and fewer lymphocytes, but was not related to any measures of reproductive success. A high female PC2 score, indicating more eosinophils and basophils, correlated with a smaller nestling tarsus. Eosinophilia and basophilia often result from an allergic immune response or parasitism. For females, clutch size decreased with a higher white blood cell (WBC) count. Male hematology did not relate to clutch size or nestling size. Neither PC1 nor PC2 correlated with laying date. These findings suggest that immune function positively impacts the number and size of offspring. This is the first study to describe the leukocyte profiles of wild House Wrens. Because it may be that only healthy birds can reproduce, future work should examine the hematology of non-breeding House Wrens to see if abnormal blood counts can account for their lack of reproduction.
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Keywords
Leukocyte profiles, House Wrens, Blood counts in Birds, Avian blood data