1. Subsidies of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, not energy subsidies, strengthen immune responses in a terrestrial predator.
- Author
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Kirschman, Lucas J., Fritz, Kelley A., Reish, Hannah McKinnon, Tyler, Amber N., Abt, Kimberlee, Durbin, Parker, Sprague, Jackson L., Witty, Rebecca F., and Zhang, YanFeng
- Subjects
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UNSATURATED fatty acids , *WOLF spiders , *VERNAL pools , *ENERGY subsidies , *PHYSIOLOGY - Abstract
Resource subsides can link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Animals that emerge from aquatic ecosystems can transport nutrients that are scarce in terrestrial environments, like long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), which are synthesized by algae in aquatic environments. LC-PUFAs have critical roles in animal physiology and are precursors to eicosanoids, which help mediate immune responses. We previously found that wolf spiders in wetland ecosystems had higher levels of LC-PUFA and stronger immune responses than nearby upland spiders. However, we could not determine if the stronger immune responses were because of eicosanoids derived from LC-PUFA subsidies or because they had a larger resource pool from aquatic prey subsidies. Here, we use 2 immune assays, 1 affected by eicosanoids and 1 not affected, to differentiate between those 2 possibilities. We fit generalized linear mixed models and found that LC-PUFA subsidies are responsible for the stronger immune responses in wetland spiders. We also found evidence that wolf spiders maintain some immune responses across reproductive states and increase other immune responses when they are gravid. Our results demonstrate that LC-PUFA subsidies can alter immune function in recipient consumers because LC-PUFAs are preferentially stored rather than used as energy. This alteration of immune function could have consequences for disease transmission and pathogen abundance in linked aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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