IMMUNE RESPONSE INCREASES PREDATION RISK
Oliver Otti1,2,3,
Iris Gantenbein-Ritter1,
Alain Jacot1,?,
Martin W. G. Brinkhof1,?
Article first published online: 8 DEC 2011
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01506.x
? 2011 The Author(s). Evolution? 2011 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
Volume 66, Issue 3, pages 732?739, March 2012
Otti, O., Gantenbein-Ritter, I., Jacot, A. and Brinkhof, M. W. G. (2012), IMMUNE RESPONSE INCREASES PREDATION RISK. Evolution, 66: 732?739. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01506.x
Publication History
Issue published online: 1 MAR 2012
Article first published online: 8 DEC 2011
Accepted manuscript online: 15 NOV 2011 12:48AM EST
Received April 26, 2011, Accepted October 26, 2011
Why do individuals have an imperfect immune system? Most studies suggest trade-offs associated with immunity and metabolism, and neglect ecological factors, such as predation. We provide one of the first experimental studies demonstrating a context-dependent survival cost to immune activation. In the presence of a predator, immune-challenged male field crickets showed significantly lower survival than controls, whilst there was no difference in a predator-free environment. Immune-challenged males spent more time outside their burrows and reacted slower to a simulated predator attack. We conclude that some costs of immunity are expressed via increased susceptibility to predation, indicating the importance of integrating the ecological context when investigating optimal investment in immunity.
