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Digest: Life history evolution in Darwin's dream ponds
Foteini Spagopoulou1, Mozes P K Blom2
1Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D,, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden.
Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|April 1, 2018
Abstract:
Can variation in sex-specific parental investment lead to sexual dimorphism in immune response? Keller et al. (2018) measured immune cell parameters, expression of candidate genes, and composition of buccal microbiota in mouthbrooding cichlid species from Lake Tanganyika that show either maternal or biparental care. They found that maternal mouthbrooding species have increased sexual dimorphism in immune parameters, while biparental mouthbrooders exhibit an upregulated adaptive immune response, suggesting resource allocation shifts between parental investment and the immune system.