CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 18Animal Behavior and ReproductionStress Responses and CortisolEvolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

Mounting an immune response correlates with decreased androgen levels in male peafowl, Pavo cristatus

Open access
Ros, Albert F. H., Correia, Maria, Wingfield, John C., Oliveira, Rui F.·2009·Journal of Ethology
DOI 10.1007/s10164-008-0105-0
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Studies testing the “immunocompetence handicap hypothesis” have focussed on the immunosuppressive effects of androgens. Several recent studies have reported that mounting a humoral immune response might also result in a decrease in circulating androgen levels via a “negative feedback” on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG). The aim of this correlative study was to analyse these immunosuppressive and HPG-suppressive interactions in reproductively active males of the peafowl. We collected blood samples of free living birds before and after challenging the immune system with a non-pathogenic antigen (sheep erythrocytes), and analysed immune parameters and plasma levels of the two main androgens in birds, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone. Males displaying larger versions of the main secondary sexual trait, the long and conspicuously ornamented train, tended to have higher androgen levels and significantly lower circulating levels of leukocytes, indicating that exaggerated ornaments might signal properties of the endocrine and immune system. Actual circulating levels of androgens did not correlate with the plasma levels of leukocytes and the antibody response to SRBC. However, changes in plasma levels of both androgens showed negative correlation with both leukocytes (P < 0.1) and SRBC responses (P < 0.05). The data therefore support the prediction that activity of the immune system is HPG-suppressive. Such suppression has been proposed to be especially costly during the reproductive season, during which androgens facilitate the expression of exaggerated traits that play an important role in sexual competition.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s10164-008-0105-0

Cites

36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Our results focus entirely on the costs associated with locomotion; numerous other costs related to sexual selection may be incurred, and for peacocks these may lie in the development of the trait and in its display rather than the inherent cost of moving around with the trait.

    “It is important to stress that our results focus entirely on the costs associated with locomotion, there are of course numerous other costs related to sexual selection that may be incurred, indeed for peacocks these may lie in the development of the trait and in its display4344 rather than the inherent cost of moving around with the trait.”

    From The peacock train does not handicap cursorial locomotor performance (2016) · cites this paper as [44]

  • Train length is associated with circulating androgen levels.

    “Train length is also associated with circulating androgen levels [39]”

    From Biomechanics of the Peacock’s Display: How Feather Structure and Resonance Influence Multimodal Signaling (2016) · cites this paper as [39]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Ros, A. F. H., Correia, M., Wingfield, J. C., & Oliveira, R. F.
Affiliations
University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Ros, Albert F. H.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Ethology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2008-06-24
Volume
27
Issue
2
Pages
209-214
ISSN
  • 0289-0771 (ISSN-L)
  • 1439-5444
DOI
10.1007/s10164-008-0105-0
OpenAlex
W2162249415
Cited by
18
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
FWCI
0.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Ethology (publishedVersion)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Keywords
immunocompetence handicap hypothesis, androgens, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, humoral immune response, hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, negative feedback, peafowl, Pavo cristatus, white blood cell count, antibody response, sexual competition, breeding season, immunosuppression

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review