Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

28 May, 08 AM - 27 Jun, 05 AM

I will be examining the innate immune systems of wild Sierran Brown-headed Cowbirds as part of my dissertation work on life-history trade-offs between breeding strategy and immune function. The ability to fight off infection and disease may be a major determinant in deciding an organism?s lifetime fitness and researchers have begun focusing on the importance of immunocompetence in life-history trade-offs. To examine the link between breeding life history strategy and immunocompetence I have focused my research on the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater: ?cowbird?). I propose to collect blood samples from cowbirds around SNARL to assess their levels of constitutive innate immunity and compare the Sierran birds to birds in Santa Barbara.

Visit #20893 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 10832 | Research

Measures of Innate Immunity in Brown-headed Cowbirds

graduate_student - University of California, Santa Barbara

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Loren Merrill May 28 - Jun 27, 2010 (31 days)

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Dorm 1 May 28 - Jun 27, 2010