Parasitism, life history traits and immune defence in cyprinid fish from Central Europe

Andrea Simková (1) , Thomas Lafond (2) , Markéta Ondračková (1, 3) , Pavel Jurajda (3) , Eva Ottová (1) , Serge Morand (4)

1 Institute of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science
2 PE - Parasitologie évolutive
3 IVB / CAS - Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
4 UMR ISEM - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier

The main prediction of life-history theory is that optimal energy allocated among the traits is related to the growth, maintenance and survival. It is hypothesized that the optimal resource allocated to immune function, which generates resistance towards parasites and reduce the fitness losses caused by parasitism, is depending on other requirements for energetic resource and the benefits associated with them. The aims of this study are to investigate in a comparative way (1) how parasitism is related to fish life history traits (fecundity, longevity, mortality), (2) whether there is a trade-off between reproduction and immune investments in fish females (i.e. energetic hypothesis) and in males (i.e. immunohandicap hypothesis), (3) whether parasitism influences host immunity (spleen size) and reproduction (gonad size) in females and males.

Mots clés: ROACH RUTILUS-RUTILUS; IMMUNOCOMPETENCE HANDICAP; SEXUAL ORNAMENTATION; INDEPENDENT CONTRASTS; SPECIES RICHNESS; SEASONAL-CHANGES; ABRAMIS-BRAMA; BARN SWALLOW; ARCTIC CHARR; SPLEEN SIZE

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Andrea Simková, Thomas Lafond, Markéta Ondračková, Pavel Jurajda, Eva Ottová, et al.. Parasitism, life history traits and immune defence in cyprinid fish from Central Europe. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2008, 8, pp.n°29. ⟨10.1186/1471-2148-8-29⟩. ⟨halsde-00525563⟩