Meeting Abstract
Wildlife diseases are of increasing importance as many vertebrate taxa have experienced recent and devastating disease outbreaks. Several hypotheses have been generated to explain why the frequency of disease in ectothermic vertebrates has increased as a result of recent patterns of climate change. Herein, we used baseline immunological parameters in Gopher Tortoises to test the seasonal acclimation hypothesis. Immune responses we quantified included bacterial lysis ability, total circulating leukocyte counts, and relative leukocyte counts. Additionally, we assayed baseline corticosterone as a covariate of the immune parameters. We found seasonal variation in bacterial lysis ability (ANOVA: F = 8.659, P <0.0001) and relative differential leukocyte counts (ANOVA: F = 25.42, P < 0.0001). Results from this study support the seasonal acclimation hypothesis to explain patterns of seasonal variation in disease susceptibility in this species.
