Effects of harmful algal blooms on stress levels and immune functioning in wetland-associated songbirds and reptiles
Description
Capture data, morphological data, circulating leukocyte profile (number of eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and heterophils), heterophil:lymphocyte ratio, bactericidal capacity, and natural antibody agglutination titer in individual barn swallows, red-winged blackbirds, Northern watersnakes, and painted turtles sampled from control (Ottawa County) and harmful algal bloom-exposed (Mercer and Auglaize Counties) wetlands in Ohio, USA, in 2018-2019. Additionally, peak skin swelling in response to injection with phytohemagglutinin was measured at each site in 2018 in painted turtles only.
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Wetland-associated songbirds (barn swallows, Hirundo rustica, and red-winged blackbirds, Agelaius phoeniceus) and reptiles (Northern watersnakes, Nerodia sipedon, and painted turtles, Chrysemys picta) were sampled from wetlands exposed to chronically high microcystin levels due to a prolonged HAB event, and from unexposed, control wetlands. Physiological stress levels were compared between HAB-exposed and control individuals within each species using heterophil:lymphocyte ratios quantified by counting and classifying 100 white blood cells from a blood smear. Immune functioning was compared between the HAB-exposed and control populations within each species using two metrics: bacteria-killing capacity, or the capacity of individuals' blood plasma to kill E. coli, and natural antibody agglutination, or constitutive ability to adhere to foreign red blood cells. For painted turtles only, activity of the adaptive immune system was quantified using a phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-challenge assay, which measures localized skin swelling in response to an infection (here, PHA injected into the toe webbing of a hind foot.