Meeting Abstract
Environmental conditions directly affect the nutritional quality of food. Nutritional quality of food, in turn, mediates individual-level heterogeneity in phenotypes physiological. We investigated how habitat use at small scales affected constitutive immune function and trace-mineral levels in mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Jackson mountain range in Nevada. Using GPS collar data we assigned deer to a land-use groups: field (primarily used alfalfa fields), uplands (primarily used natural, upland habitat), and split (split time between habitats). We found that habitat use on a small scale resulted in differences in serum levels of selenium, magnesium, and iron, but not differences in levels of calcium, copper, phosphorous, and zinc. Levels of calcium, phosphorous, and zinc differed among study years. These results indicate that differences in environmental conditions over short ranges can affect nutritional status of individuals. Interestingly, we found evidence of immunosenescence for one functional measures of constitutive immune function, bactericidal capacity, but not another measure of constitutive immune function, reactive nitrogen metabolites; neither measure of immune function differed among study groups. We found no differences in disease prevalence among study groups, but we found links between constitutive immunity and disease prevalence. Because physiology is regulated by a complex network of response and many aspects of physiology must be studies to understand how environmental conditions and ontogeny affect phenotypes. Our study shows that new insights can be gained by investigating linkages among physiological measures.
