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Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard

High levels of within-individual variation (WIV) in reiterative components in plants such as leaves, flowers, and fruits have been shown to increase individual fitness by multiple mechanisms including mediating interactions with natural enemies. This relationship between WIV and fitness has been stu...

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Autores principales: Cruz, Virnaliz, Cruz-Pantoja, Omar, Tremblay, Raymond, Acevedo, Miguel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8881909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35228904
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12761
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author Cruz, Virnaliz
Cruz-Pantoja, Omar
Tremblay, Raymond
Acevedo, Miguel
author_facet Cruz, Virnaliz
Cruz-Pantoja, Omar
Tremblay, Raymond
Acevedo, Miguel
author_sort Cruz, Virnaliz
collection PubMed
description High levels of within-individual variation (WIV) in reiterative components in plants such as leaves, flowers, and fruits have been shown to increase individual fitness by multiple mechanisms including mediating interactions with natural enemies. This relationship between WIV and fitness has been studied almost exclusively in plant systems. While animals do not exhibit conspicuous reiterative components, they have traits that can vary at the individual level such as erythrocyte size. It is currently unknown if WIV in animals can influence individual fitness by mediating the outcome of interactions with natural enemies as it has been shown in plants. To address this issue, we tested for a relationship between WIV in erythrocyte size, hemoparasite infection status, and body condition (a proxy for fitness) in a Caribbean anole lizard. We quantified the coefficient of variation of adult erythrocytes size in $n = 95$ infected and $n = 107$ non-infected lizards. We found higher degrees of erythrocyte size variation in infected lizards than in non-infected individuals. However, we found no significant relationship between infection status or erythrocyte size variation, and lizard body condition. These results suggest that higher WIV in erythrocyte size in infected lizards is not necessarily adaptive but likely a consequence of the host response to infection. Many hemoparasites destroy their host cells as part of their life cycle. To compensate, the host lizard may respond by increasing production of erythrocytes resulting in higher WIV. Our results emphasize the need to better understand the role of within-animal variation as a neglected driver or consequence of ecological and evolutionary interactions.
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spelling pubmed-88819092022-02-27 Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard Cruz, Virnaliz Cruz-Pantoja, Omar Tremblay, Raymond Acevedo, Miguel PeerJ Ecology High levels of within-individual variation (WIV) in reiterative components in plants such as leaves, flowers, and fruits have been shown to increase individual fitness by multiple mechanisms including mediating interactions with natural enemies. This relationship between WIV and fitness has been studied almost exclusively in plant systems. While animals do not exhibit conspicuous reiterative components, they have traits that can vary at the individual level such as erythrocyte size. It is currently unknown if WIV in animals can influence individual fitness by mediating the outcome of interactions with natural enemies as it has been shown in plants. To address this issue, we tested for a relationship between WIV in erythrocyte size, hemoparasite infection status, and body condition (a proxy for fitness) in a Caribbean anole lizard. We quantified the coefficient of variation of adult erythrocytes size in $n = 95$ infected and $n = 107$ non-infected lizards. We found higher degrees of erythrocyte size variation in infected lizards than in non-infected individuals. However, we found no significant relationship between infection status or erythrocyte size variation, and lizard body condition. These results suggest that higher WIV in erythrocyte size in infected lizards is not necessarily adaptive but likely a consequence of the host response to infection. Many hemoparasites destroy their host cells as part of their life cycle. To compensate, the host lizard may respond by increasing production of erythrocytes resulting in higher WIV. Our results emphasize the need to better understand the role of within-animal variation as a neglected driver or consequence of ecological and evolutionary interactions. PeerJ Inc. 2022-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8881909/ /pubmed/35228904 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12761 Text en ©2022 Cruz et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Cruz, Virnaliz
Cruz-Pantoja, Omar
Tremblay, Raymond
Acevedo, Miguel
Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
title Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
title_full Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
title_fullStr Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
title_full_unstemmed Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
title_short Animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
title_sort animal trait variation at the within-individual level: erythrocyte size variation and malaria infection in a tropical lizard
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8881909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35228904
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12761
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