10.25338/B8TW65
Names, Gabrielle
0000-0002-5792-5376
University of California, Davis
Schultz, Elizabeth
Wittenberg University
Krause, Jesse
University of Nevada Reno
Hahn, Thomas
University of California, Davis
Wingfield, John
University of California, Davis
Heal, Molly
University of California, Davis
Cornelius, Jamie
Oregon State University
Klasing, Kirk
University of California, Davis
Hunt, Kathleen
George Mason University
Stress in paradise: effects of elevated corticosterone on immunity and
avian malaria resilience in a Hawaiian passerine
Dryad
dataset
2021
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation
https://ror.org/054awkm93
ARCS Fellowship
United States Department of Agriculture
https://ror.org/01na82s61
NE-1834 Program
University of California, Davis
https://ror.org/05rrcem69
College of Biological Sciences
University of California, Davis
https://ror.org/05rrcem69
Animal Behavior Graduate Group
University of California, Davis
https://ror.org/05rrcem69
Office of Graduate Studies
University of California, Davis
https://ror.org/05rrcem69
Discretionary funds for Thomas P. Hahn
University of California, Davis
https://ror.org/05rrcem69
Endowed Chair in Physiology to John C. Wingfield
2021-10-07T00:00:00Z
2021-10-07T00:00:00Z
en
45428 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Vertebrates confronted with challenging environments often experience an
increase in circulating glucocorticoids, which result in morphological,
physiological, and behavioral changes that promote survival. However,
chronically elevated glucocorticoids can suppress immunity, which may
increase susceptibility to disease. Since the introduction of avian
malaria to Hawaii a century ago, low elevation populations of Hawaii
Amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens) have undergone strong selection by avian
malaria and evolved increased resilience (the ability to recover from
infection), while populations at high elevation with few vectors have not
undergone selection and remain susceptible. We investigated how
experimentally elevated corticosterone affects the ability of high and low
elevation male Amakihi to cope with avian malaria by measuring innate
immunity, hematocrit, and malaria parasitemia. Corticosterone implants
resulted in a decrease in hematocrit in high and low elevation birds but
no changes to circulating natural antibodies or leukocytes. Overall,
leukocyte count was higher in low than high elevation birds. Malaria
infections were detected in a subset of low elevation birds. Infected
individuals with corticosterone implants experienced a significant
increase in circulating malaria parasites while untreated infected birds
did not. Our results suggest that Amakihi innate immunity measured by
natural antibodies and leukocytes is not sensitive to changes in
corticosterone, and that high circulating corticosterone may reduce the
ability of Amakihi to cope with infection via its effects on hematocrit
and malaria parasite load. Understanding how glucocorticoids influence a
host’s ability to cope with introduced diseases provides new insight into
the conservation of animals threatened by novel pathogens.
The corresponding AMAKIHI_CORT_EXPERIMENT_readme.txt file contains
information about each variable included in the dataset, including units,
how it was obtained and/or how it was calculated. NA represents data that
is not available. Additional information about how data was obtained can
be found in the corresponding manuscript.