Hakkarainen Harri, Ilmonen Petteri, Koivunen Vesa, Korpimäki Erkki
Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, FIN-20014 Turku, Finland Fax: 358-2-333 6550; e-mail:
Oecologia. 1998 May;114(4):574-577. doi: 10.1007/s004420050482.
Infectious diseases are expected to negatively influence essential life history traits of an individual, because investment in immunological response occurs at the expense of reduced investment in other functions. Here we present the first observational evidence that the prevalence of blood parasites is negatively associated with avian nest defense. Because the defense of offspring entails a risk of serious physical harm to the parent, it is also assumed to be a good estimate of parental investment. In both 1994 and 1995, the nest defense intensity of male Tengmalm's owls (Aegolius funereus) against a live American mink (Mustela vison) was strongly curtailed in parents infected by Trypanosoma avium blood parasites. Our data suggests that investment in reproduction can be negatively affected by parasitaemia, and that host-parasite interactions may potentially modify hosts' life-history traits, making it important to consider the costs of parasitism in future studies.
传染病预计会对个体的基本生活史特征产生负面影响，因为对免疫反应的投入是以减少对其他功能的投入为代价的。在此，我们提供了首个观察性证据，即血液寄生虫的流行率与鸟类巢穴防御呈负相关。由于保护后代会使亲代面临严重身体伤害的风险，因此它也被认为是亲代投资的一个良好指标。在1994年和1995年，感染鸟锥虫血液寄生虫的雄性乌林鸮（Aegolius funereus）对活体美洲水貂（Mustela vison）的巢穴防御强度都大幅降低。我们的数据表明，寄生虫血症可能会对繁殖投入产生负面影响，宿主与寄生虫的相互作用可能会潜在地改变宿主的生活史特征，这使得在未来的研究中考虑寄生的代价非常重要。
