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1.
Many animals use chemical signals in sexual selection, but it is not clear how these sexual traits might have evolved to signal honestly male condition. It is possible that there is a trade-off between maintaining the immune system and the elaboration of ornaments. We experimentally challenged the immune system of male Iberian wall lizards, Podarcis hispanica, with a bacterial antigen (lipopolysaccharide), without pathogenic effects, to explore whether the immune activation affected chemical ornaments. Immune activation resulted in decreased proportions of a major chemical in femoral secretions (cholesta-5,7-dien-3-ol = provitamin D(3)) known to be selected in scent of males by females and which active form (vitamin D) has a variety of important effects on immune system function. This result suggests the existence of a potential trade-off between physiological regulation of the immune system and the allocation of essential nutrients (vitamins) to sexual chemical ornaments in male lizards. 相似文献
2.
Allocation trade-offs of carotenoids between their use in the immune system and production of sexual ornaments have been suggested
as a proximate mechanism maintaining honesty of sexual signals. To test this idea, we experimentally examined whether carotenoid
availability in the diet was related to variation in antibody response to novel antigens in male greenfinches (Carduelis chloris aurantiiventris), a species with extensive carotenoid-dependent plumage colouration. We also measured the cost of mounting a humoral response
in terms of circulating carotenoids. Finally, we examined the relationship between plumage colour, immune response and circulating
carotenoids. We found that males with carotenoid-supplemented diets showed stronger antibody response than non-supplemented
birds. We also found that activation of the immune system significantly reduced circulating carotenoids (24.9% lower in immune-challenged
birds than in control birds). Finally, intensity (chroma) of ventral plumage colouration of males, a character directly related
to concentration of total carotenoids in feathers, was negatively correlated with the immune response and circulating carotenoids
in winter. These results support the idea that carotenoids are a limiting resource and that males trade ornamental colouration
against immune response. 相似文献