Sex-Biased Parasitism of Avian Hosts: Relations to Blood Parasite Taxon and Mating System

McCurdy, Dean G.; Shutler, Dave; Mullie, Adele; Forbes, Mark R.

doi:10.2307/3546970

Cited by 190 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…In vertebrates, testosterone is generally believed to be the most important factor (Folstad et al 1989, Poulin 1996, Zuk and McKean 1996, McCurdy et al 1998, Moore and Wilson 2002. The fact that invertebrates lack testosterone and a consistent male bias in infection (Sheridan et al 2000) adds support to the testosterone-driven immunocompetence hypothesis as the main explanation of malebiased parasitism in vertebrates.…”

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confidence: 82%

“…Male-biased parasitism is generally believed to be associated with reduced immunocompetence in males as a result of testosterone (Folstad et al 1989, Poulin 1996, Zuk and McKean 1996, McCurdy et al 1998, Moore and Wilson 2002. The alternative explanation for male-biased parasitism is that ecological differences between the sexes results in different levels of infection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Testosterone has been found to have an immunosuppressive effect in males, reducing their ability to Þght off infections (McCurdy et al 1998). Testosterone is thought to be particularly important in generating male-biased parasitism across vertebrate taxa (Alexander and Stimson 1988, Folstad et al 1989, Poulin 1996, Zuk and McKean 1996, McCurdy et al 1998, Moore and Wilson 2002. Male-biased parasitism in mammals is also associated with increased malebiased sexual size dimorphism (Moore and Wilson 2002), although a similar pattern does not seem to be present in birds (McCurdy et al 1998).…”

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confidence: 92%

“…Sex biases in parasitism have been reported in a wide range of vertebrate taxa including mammals (Poulin 1996, Schalk and Forbes 1997, Moore and Wilson 2002, birds (McCurdy et al 1998), Þsh (Reimchem and Nosil 2001), and amphibians (Tinsley 1989). Two main hypotheses have been proposed to explain why males should be more infected (Folstad et al 1989, Zuk andMcKean 1996).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Physiological differences, such as reduced immunocompetence in males as a result of higher costs of producing sexually selected traits, can generate higher levels of infection in males (Folstad et al 1989, Folstad and Karter 1992, Kurtz and Sauer 1999. Testosterone has been found to have an immunosuppressive effect in males, reducing their ability to Þght off infections (McCurdy et al 1998). Testosterone is thought to be particularly important in generating male-biased parasitism across vertebrate taxa (Alexander and Stimson 1988, Folstad et al 1989, Poulin 1996, Zuk and McKean 1996, McCurdy et al 1998, Moore and Wilson 2002.…”

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confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Sex-Biased Phoretic Mite Load on Two Seaweed Flies:Coelopa frigidaandCoelopa pilipes

2009

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Two hypotheses explain male-biased parasitism. Physiological costs of male sexually selected characteristics can reduce immunocompetence. Alternatively, ecological differences could generate male-biased parasitism. One method of comparing the importance of the two theories is to investigate patterns of phoresy, which are only likely to be generated by ecological rather than immunological differences between the sexes. Here we studied the pattern of phoresy of the mite, Thinoseius fucicola, on two species of seaweed ßy hosts, Coelopa frigida and Coelopa pilipes. We found a highly male-biased pattern of phoresy of T. fucicola on both species. These are the Þrst reported instances of sex-biased phoresy in a solely phoretic parasite. We also show the Þrst two cases of size-biased phoresy. We suggest that ecological factors, particularly, male mate searching, generated male biased patterns of phoresy. We highlight the potential importance of studies of phoresy in determining the relative roles of the immunocompetence and ecological theories in generating male-biased parasitism. We suggest that more studies of patterns of phoresy are carried out to allow detailed comparisons with patterns of parasitism.

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mentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 92%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex-Biased Phoretic Mite Load on Two Seaweed Flies:Coelopa frigidaandCoelopa pilipes

2009

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Integrating Costs of Reproduction between the Sexes

Cox

2014

Integrative Organismal Biology

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Testosterone-mediated immune functions and male life histories

2005

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Recent advances in human life history theory have provided new insights into the potential selection pressures that were instrumental in the evolution of human and non-human primate males. However, gaps remain in our understanding of how primate males regulate and allocate energetic resources between survivorship and reproductive effort. Defense against parasitic infection is an important force shaping life history evolution. Proper performance of immunological responses against infection is influenced by many physiological systems, including metabolic, reproductive, and stress hormones. Because androgens influence and modulate immune, reproductive, and somatic metabolic functions, assessing changes in testosterone and immune factors during infection may yield insight into male physiological ecology. In this review, we examine male life history trade-offs between immune and reproductive endocrine functions as well as provide a comprehensive review of testosterone-immunocompetence relationships. Emphasis is placed on testosterone because it is a primary hormone shown to be crucial to energy-allocation processes in vertebrates. Non-primate species have been used more extensively in this research than humans or non-human primates, and therefore this extensive literature is organized and reviewed in order to better understand potential parallel relationships in primates, especially humans. Furthermore, we attempt to reconcile the many inconsistent results obtained from field studies on immune-endocrine interactions as well as detail various methodologies that may be used to forward this research in evolutionary anthropology.

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Sex-Biased Parasitism of Avian Hosts: Relations to Blood Parasite Taxon and Mating System

Cited by 190 publications

References 79 publications

Sex-Biased Phoretic Mite Load on Two Seaweed Flies:Coelopa frigidaandCoelopa pilipes

Sex-Biased Phoretic Mite Load on Two Seaweed Flies:Coelopa frigidaandCoelopa pilipes

Integrating Costs of Reproduction between the Sexes

Testosterone-mediated immune functions and male life histories

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