Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2017
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin14915616756828152021-08-03T07:01:32Z Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata Gilbert, Rachel R. Biology wolf spider immunity multimodal sexual signaling ecoimmunology good genes All taxa must cope with assault from parasites and pathogens, and have thus developed an immune system that may require resources that would otherwise be invested in life history traits, such as those used in mating and reproduction. Consequently, male sexual signaling traits that are costly to develop and maintain can act as honest signals, since only the highest quality males can cope with the energetic demands required to both express these traits and maintain an effective immune system. In this study, I investigated the tradeoffs between immunity and sexual signaling in the brush-legged wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata. First, I sought to determine whether male multimodal sexual signals are an honest indicator of male health and immunity, and whether females can acquire information about male health status through the evaluation of these traits in a live mating context. While I found evidence that females avoid the chemical cues of infected males, there was no difference in vibratory sexual signals or in overall mating success between infected and healthy males. However, these were males that were infected as adults, after sexual signaling traits were fixed, and may not accurately reflect a change in male health. Therefore, I infected males as juveniles during the penultimate stage of development, when the most resources should be allocated toward the development of sexual signals. These juvenile infected males had higher immune function as adults, but had more asymmetrical visual traits, lower quality vibratory signals, and overall lower mating success. 2017-05-26 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561675682815 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561675682815 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Biology wolf spider immunity multimodal sexual signaling ecoimmunology good genes |
| spellingShingle |
Biology wolf spider immunity multimodal sexual signaling ecoimmunology good genes Gilbert, Rachel R. Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata |
| author |
Gilbert, Rachel R. |
| author_facet |
Gilbert, Rachel R. |
| author_sort |
Gilbert, Rachel R. |
| title |
Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata |
| title_short |
Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata |
| title_full |
Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata |
| title_fullStr |
Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata |
| title_sort |
immunity and sexual signaling in the wolf spider schizocosa ocreata |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561675682815 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT gilbertrachelr immunityandsexualsignalinginthewolfspiderschizocosaocreata |
| _version_ |
1719452126218813440 |