Females suffer a reduction in the viability of stored sperm following an immune challenge

Abstract

Despite the ubiquitous nature of sperm storage in invertebrates, relatively little is known about its costs, or the impact that immune activation can have on a female's ability to maintain viable sperm stores. We explored the effects of an immune challenge on sperm storage under food-limited and ad libitum conditions in the field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus, by injecting mated adult females with either a LD5 dose of live bacteria or a nonpathogenic immune elicitor [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)] and then scoring the viability of their stored sperm. Females that were infected with bacteria showed a reduction in the viability of stored sperm 48 h after infection; interestingly, this pattern was..