Journal article
Personality and innate immune defenses in a wild bird: Evidence for the pace-of-life hypothesis
R Jacques-Hamilton, ML Hall, WA Buttemer, KD Matson, A Gonҫalves da Silva, RA Mulder, A Peters
Hormones and Behavior | ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE | Published : 2017
Abstract
We tested the two main evolutionary hypotheses for an association between immunity and personality. The risk-of-parasitism hypothesis predicts that more proactive (bold, exploratory, risk-taking) individuals have more vigorous immune defenses because of increased risk of parasite exposure. In contrast, the pace-of-life hypothesis argues that proactive behavioral styles are associated with shorter lifespans and reduced investment in immune function. Mechanistically, associations between immunity and personality can arise because personality differences are often associated with differences in condition and stress responsiveness, both of which are intricately linked with immunity. Here we inve..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This research was completed under approval of a 'DSE bird banding and research permit' (permit no. 1006026), the Science, Optometry & Vision Sciences, Land & Environment Animal Ethics Committee, Melbourne University (ethics ID 0911118.1) and the Biological Sciences Animal Ethics Committee of Monash University. We would like to thank Timon van Asten and Andrew Katsis for help with fieldwork. We are grateful to Chris Johnstone and Deborah Buehler for helpful advice regarding blood smears, to Viviana Rosati for help with the Hp analysis and to Hannah Moule and Lee Peacock for help with the avian malaria analysis. Special thanks to Kaspar Delhey for statistical assistance and for making the graphs. Three anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments. The research was funded by the Australian Research Council (FT110100505 and DP150103595 to AP and DP110103120 to RAM).