Effects of a Novel Climate on Stress Response and Immune Function in Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)

REFSNIDER, J.M.; PALACIOS, M. G.; REDING, D.M.; BRONIKOWSKI, A. M.

JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART A-ECOLOGICAL GENETICS AND PHYSIOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2015 vol. 323 p. 160 - 168

1932-5223

Climate change may subjectanimals to increasingly stressful environmental conditions, which could have negative physiologicalconsequences if stress levels are elevated for long periods. We conducted amanipulative experiment to determine the effects of a novel climate on stresslevels and immune function in a model reptile species, the painted turtle. Wecollected turtles from four populations across the species´ geographic rangeand housed them in a common-garden in one population´s local climate. Wemeasured levels of the stress hormone corticosterone and tested two aspects ofinnate immune function, bactericidal capacity and natural antibodyagglutination, at the time of capture (baseline) and three additional timepoints over 1 year. The four populations did not differ in corticosteronelevels over the course of 1 year, and corticosterone levels were also similarat each sampling period except that post-hibernation corticosterone levels weresignificantly lower than the previous three time points. Furthermore, we foundno evidence that elevated corticosterone depressed immune function in thepainted turtle. Our study suggests that turtles exposed to novel climaticconditions did not display a detectable stress response, nor did the novelclimate depress immune function in the transplanted populations. Therefore, interms of innate immune function, turtles may be relatively resilient to atleast small changes in climatic conditions.