Data from: Age-related changes of oxidative status and immune function in a long-lived seabird
Data files
Mar 06, 2026 version files 19.34 KB
-
README.md
2.89 KB
-
Shearwaters_ageing_data.xlsx
16.44 KB
Abstract
Experimental studies in humans and laboratory species have shown that the decline of the immune system with age (immunosenescence) and the accumulation of oxidative damage to macromolecules are two key contributors to the onset and progression of the ageing process. Although laboratory models have provided important insights, the physiological basis of ageing in natural populations remains comparatively understudied. In this study, we compared four markers of oxidative status (SOD, GPx, Catalase and DNA damage) and eight immune markers (IgY, haptoglobin, hemolysis–hemagglutination, and counts of basophils, neutrophils, lymphocytes, heterophils, and eosinophils) between younger (5-9 years old, n=21) and older (17-36 years old, n=22) breeders of a long-lived seabird, the Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), to identify potential physiological signatures of ageing.
Our dataset is reported in the Excel file “shearwater_ageing_data.xlsx” and refers to adult shearwaters sampled in May 2024, during the egg-laying period. The dataset is structured so that, for each individual, there is its ring number, sex, age and body mass along with the values of the immune and oxidative markers analyzed.
Ethic statement: Fieldwork was carried out under the authorizations issued by the Regione Siciliana, Assessorato Agricoltura e Foreste with letter Prot. 17233 dated December 1, 2010, and subsequent communications Prot. 2452 dated February 01, 2018, and Prot. 48759 dated May 22, 2023.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vgf
Description of the data and file structure
To identify potential physiological signatures of ageing in the Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), we collected blood samples in May 2024 from breeding individuals belonging to two age groups: younger (N = 21; 5-9 years) and older (N = 22; 17-36 years), as determined by their ringing history. We collected 400 µL of blood from the tarsal vein and compared four markers of oxidative status (SOD, GPx, catalase, DNA damage) and eight immune markers (IgY, haptoglobin, hemolysis–hemagglutination titre, and counts of lymphocytes, monocytes, basophils, heterophils, and eosinophils) between younger and older adults
Files and variables
File: Shearwaters_ageing_data.xlsx
Description:
Variables
- Code: sample ID
- Ring: bird ID
- Sex: sex of the individuals (M=male; F=female)
- Ageclass: age class of the individuals (old=17-36 years; young=5-9 years)
- Ageyears: age of the individuals expressed in years since the year of ringing
- GPx: GPx values for each individual expressed in units/mg of proteins
- SOD: SOD values for each individual expressed in units/mg of proteins
- CAT: catalase values for each individual expressed in units/mg of proteins
- DNA damage: level of DNA damage for each individual expressed in length of strand breaks in µm
- Hemolysis–hemagglutination: hemagglutination titre for each individual
- Igy: the plasma concentration of immunoglobulin Y for each individual expressed in µg/ml
- Haptoglobin: the plasma concentration of haptoglobin for each individual expressed in mg/ml
- **Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Basophils, Heterophils, Eosinophils: **White blood cell counts for each cell type per 10⁴ red blood cells
Code/software
These data can be read directly in R software. We fitted Generalized Linear Models (GLM) to test the effect of age class on immune and oxidative status markers (R package lme4, v. 1.1.36). In each model, we entered Age class (older vs. younger) and Sex as predictors, and the interaction between age and sex to examine whether the effect of age differed between females and males. We ran GLMs with Gamma family and log link function for the four oxidative status markers, haptoglobin and IgY, and negative binomial GLMs for the white blood cell counts.
Notes
This description refers only to the data contained in the Excel file and should be understood as a guide for replicating the analyses. No scripts are associated with or uploaded here.
Cells with NA represent unavailable data because the sample quality in some cases was not suitable for performing the analyses.