Authors: Pilar López Marianne Gabirot José Martín
Publish Date: 2008/10/07
Volume: 96, Issue: 1, Pages: 65-69
Abstract
Many animals use chemical signals in sexual selection but it is not clear how these sexual traits might have evolved to signal honestly male condition It is possible that there is a tradeoff between maintaining the immune system and the elaboration of ornaments We experimentally challenged the immune system of male Iberian wall lizards Podarcis hispanica with a bacterial antigen lipopolysaccharide without pathogenic effects to explore whether the immune activation affected chemical ornaments Immune activation resulted in decreased proportions of a major chemical in femoral secretions cholesta57dien3ol = provitamin D3 known to be selected in scent of males by females and which active form vitamin D has a variety of important effects on immune system function This result suggests the existence of a potential tradeoff between physiological regulation of the immune system and the allocation of essential nutrients vitamins to sexual chemical ornaments in male lizardsWe thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and “El Ventorrillo” MNCN Field Station for use of their facilities Financial support was provided by the projects MECCGL200500391/BOS and MCICGL200802119/BOS and by an “El Ventorrillo” CSIC grant to MG The experiments enforced all Spanish laws and were performed under license from the Environmental Organisms of Madrid Community
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