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Fluctuating asymmetry and immune function in a field cricket
Author(s) -
Rantala Markus J.,
Ahtiainen Jari J.,
Suhonen Jukka
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
oikos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1600-0706
pISSN - 0030-1299
DOI - 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.12776.x
Subject(s) - fluctuating asymmetry , gryllus bimaculatus , field cricket , biology , immune system , lytic cycle , immunocompetence , zoology , population , cricket , immunology , virus , medicine , environmental health
Recently, fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of morphological traits has attracted great attention as a short‐cut measure of individual quality. Whereas there is some evidence that FA of sexual ornaments is negatively associated with immune function, studies concerning FA and immune function in non‐ornamental traits are absent. Here, we tested whether FA of three non‐ornamental traits in hind limbs is related to male immune function in a population of the Mediterranean field cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. As different measures of male immune function, we used encapsulation rate and lytic activity. We found that a composite measure of FA (cFA) was negatively related to encapsulation rate. However, lytic activity was not related to cFA, but there was a tendency that males with higher body mass had higher lytic activity than males with lower body mass. Our results suggest that FA in non‐ornamental traits indicates male immunocompetence in G. bimaculatus .