1461-0248/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=3cdd97f41173d141f3f51773629729a6ad3be0ef)
1461-0248/asset/ele_centre.gif?v=1&s=8f1a28c45a6b32f9407a8bd9efb9c5b2aaffe521)
Fitness costs associated with mounting a social immune response
Article first published online: 8 JUN 2010
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01500.x
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS
Additional Information
How to Cite
Cotter, S. C., Topham, E., Price, A. J. P. and Kilner, R. M. (2010), Fitness costs associated with mounting a social immune response. Ecology Letters, 13: 1114–1123. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01500.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 20 AUG 2010
- Article first published online: 8 JUN 2010
- Editor, Tim Benton Manuscript received 8 April 2010 First decision made 1 May 2010 Manuscript accepted 5 May 2010
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Antimicrobial;
- cooperation;
- ecological immunity;
- mite;
- phoresy;
- sexual conflict;
- social insect
Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 1114–1123
Abstract
Social immune systems comprise immune defences mounted by individuals for the benefit of others (sensuCotter & Kilner 2010a). Just as with other forms of immunity, mounting a social immune response is expected to be costly but so far these fitness costs are unknown. We measured the costs of social immunity in a sub-social burying beetle, a species in which two or more adults defend a carrion breeding resource for their young by smearing the flesh with antibacterial anal exudates. Our experiments on widowed females reveal that a bacterial challenge to the breeding resource upregulates the antibacterial activity of a female’s exudates, and this subsequently reduces her lifetime reproductive success. We suggest that the costliness of social immunity is a source of evolutionary conflict between breeding adults on a carcass, and that the phoretic communities that the beetles transport between carrion may assist the beetle by offsetting these costs.