Parent Kittiwakes experience a decrease in cell-mediated immunity as they breed

Juli Broggi (1, 2) , Magdalene Langset (3) , Bernt Rønning (3) , Jorg Welcker (4) , Claus Bech (3)

1 Department of Biology
2 EBD - Estación Biológica de Doñana
3 Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics
4 Norwegian Polar Institute

The maintenance of an effective immune system may entail physiological costs only affordable by individuals in good condition. Some species, like Black-legged Kittiwakes () in the high arctic, experience important physiological changes during breeding in order to fulfil their reproductive goals. We studied the effects of breeding effort on the cell-mediated immunity (CMI) of adult breeding Kittiwakes. Parent Kittiwakes showed a significant decrease in CMI from hatching to 15 days into the chick-rearing period, when both parents are known to experience a drastic increase in energy expenditure together with important physiological adjustments. Despite being a long-lived species with biparental care, parent Kittiwakes at the northern border of their breeding range, seem to experience important reproductive immunosupression, even during favourable breeding years.

Mots clés: Costs of reproduction; Immunocompetence; PHA; Phytohemagglutinin; High arctic; Rissa tridactyla

Juli Broggi, Magdalene Langset, Bernt Rønning, Jorg Welcker, Claus Bech. Parent Kittiwakes experience a decrease in cell-mediated immunity as they breed. Journal für Ornithologie = Journal of Ornithology, 2010, 151 (3), pp.723-727. ⟨10.1007/s10336-010-0510-3⟩. ⟨hal-00577491⟩