10.5061/DRYAD.6545F86
Shaner, Pei-Jen L.
National Taiwan Normal University
Yu, Ai-Yun
National Taiwan Normal University
Li, Shou-Hsien
National Taiwan Normal University
Hou, Ching-Ho
National Taiwan Normal University
Data from: The effects of food and parasitism on reproductive performance
of a wild rodent
Dryad
dataset
2019
nematode
Breeding
diseases
host-parasite
Holocene
Apodemus semotus
2019-03-05T00:00:00Z
2019-03-05T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3997
32283 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Food and parasitism can have complex effects on small mammal reproduction.
In this study, we tested the effects of sex, food and parasitism on
reproductive performance of the Taiwan field mouse (Apodemus semotus). In
a field experiment, we increased food availability for a portion of the
mice in the population by providing sorghum seeds to a set of food
stations. We reduced parasite intensity of randomly-chosen mice through
ivermectin treatment. We determined the number and quality of offspring
for the mice using paternity analysis. We quantified seed consumption with
stable carbon isotope values of mouse plasma and parasite intensity with
faecal egg counts of intestinal nematodes and cestodes (FEC). In a
laboratory experiment, we reduced parasite intensity of randomly-chosen
mice through ivermectin treatment. We quantified their immune functions by
total white blood cell, percent granulocyte count, and percent lymphocyte
count through haematological analyses. We measured the FEC and energy
intake of the mice. From the field experiment, the number of offspring in
A. semotus increased with increasing seed consumption. Due to the
trade-off between number and quality of offspring, the offspring quality
decreased with increasing seed consumption for the females. The ivermectin
treatment did not affect offspring number or quality. However, the FEC was
positively correlated with number of offspring. In the laboratory
experiment, the percent lymphocyte/granulocyte count changed with parasite
intensity at low energy intake, which was relaxed at high energy intake.
This study demonstrated positive effects of food availability and neutral
effects of parasitism on A. semotus reproduction. However, the benefits of
food availability for the females need to take into account the offspring
number-quality trade-off, and at high infection intensity, parasitism
might negatively affect offspring quality for the males. We suggest that
food availability could mediate the relationships between parasite
intensity and immune responses.
Field and laboratory data on Apodemus semotusThis Excel file contains two
worksheets, 'field data' and 'lab data'. The
'field data' worksheet has the data from the field experiment,
including the body mass, parasite intensity (i.e. faecal egg count), seed
consumption (i.e. stable carbon isotope value), sex, ivermectin treatment,
offspring number and offspring quality (i.e. mean body mass of the
offspring) of Apodemus semotus. The 'lab data' worksheet has the
data from the laboratory experiment, including ivermectin treatment, sex,
parasite intensity (i.e. faecal egg count), energy consumption and three
immune metrics (i.e. white blood cell count, percent granulocyte count and
percent lymphocyte count of Apodemus
semotus.Apodemus_semotus_Shaner2018EcoEvo.xlsx
Asia
Taiwan