TY  - BOOK
AU  - Maxime Pineaux, Pierrick Blanchard
PY  - 2023//
TI  - A Gull Species Recognizes MHC-II Diversity and Dissimilarity Using Odor Cues
KW  - Birds Black-legged kittiwake Intraspecific communication Major histocompatibility complex Olfaction Rissa tridactyla Sexual selection
N2  - The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays a crucial role in the resistance to parasites in vertebrates and is thus often suggested to be an important force driving social interactions, including mating preference. However, the phenotypic cues used by individuals to assess the MHC characteristics of conspecifics are generally unknown. Here, we used behavioral tests to investigate whether, in black-legged kittiwakes, females use odor cues to distinguish male MHC-II diversity and MHC-II dissimilarity. We found that females took less time to peck at an odor sample coming from a male with high or low MHC-II diversity compared to intermediate MHC-II diversity. However, this result is due to the single individual who has only one MHC-II allele. When excluding this individual, females took less time to peck at an odor sample coming from a male with high MHC-II diversity. In addition, when the odor sample came from a male with higher MHC-II dissimilarity, females took less time to peck at the sample, but once they pecked at it, they delayed the use of the sample. Altogether, our results add evidence for olfactory recognition of MHC characteristics in birds, but further studies are needed to determine whether kittiwakes use this ability to optimize fitness.
SN  - 978-3-031-35159-4
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35159-4_7
N1  - exported from refbase (http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/show.php?record=8723), last updated on Sun, 02 Jun 2024 03:37:42 +0200
ID  - MaximePineaux2023
ER  -