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Maternal lysozyme concentrations in the eggs of the Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in relation to breeding density and laying order
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Females can differentially deposit the immune factor lysozyme into eggs based on conditions of local breeding density and laying order.
We collected 80 eggs from Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) and then analyzed whether the level of lysozymes in the eggs is related to breeding density and laying order.
Between clutches, the level of lysozyme in eggs is positively related to breeding density; while within a clutch, the level of lysozyme is positively related to the laying order.
When parents breed under conditions of high density, they allocate more lysozymes to their offspring, a trait adaptive to the local environment. That the increase in the level of lysozymes is a function of the laying order seems a necessary condition to mitigate the hierarchy among siblings for improving the survival of the entire clutch.
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Maternal lysozyme concentrations in the eggs of the Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in relation to breeding density and laying order
)
Abstract
Females can differentially deposit the immune factor lysozyme into eggs based on conditions of local breeding density and laying order.
We collected 80 eggs from Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) and then analyzed whether the level of lysozymes in the eggs is related to breeding density and laying order.
Between clutches, the level of lysozyme in eggs is positively related to breeding density; while within a clutch, the level of lysozyme is positively related to the laying order.
When parents breed under conditions of high density, they allocate more lysozymes to their offspring, a trait adaptive to the local environment. That the increase in the level of lysozymes is a function of the laying order seems a necessary condition to mitigate the hierarchy among siblings for improving the survival of the entire clutch.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the entire staff of the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve for its assistance when we worked in the field, as well as Krill, Shouyang Du, Chao Ma and Xuze Zhang for their help in the laboratory. We are grateful to Shuli Liu whose advice improved significantly the data analysis. This study was financially supported by the State Forestry Administration Program (Grant Nos. Y31I351B01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. Y011331501), the National Science & Technology Pillar Program (Grant Nos. 2008BADB0B0303) and National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2010CB530301).
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