Data from: Hidden costs of infection: chronic malaria accelerates telomere degradation and senescence in wild birds
Data files
Jan 08, 2016 version files 90.95 KB
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Experimental GRW DRYAD3_Asghar et al..xlsx
13.18 KB
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FemalFeeding GRW DRYAD5_Asghar et al..xlsx
15.58 KB
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Offspring GRW DRYAD2_Asghar et al..xlsx
26.61 KB
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SongRate GRW DRYAd4_Asghar et al..xlsx
10.71 KB
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Wild GRW DRYAD1_Asghar et al..xlsx
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Abstract
Recovery from infection is not always complete, and mild chronic infection may persist. Although the direct costs of such infections are apparently small, the potential for any long-term effects on Darwinian fitness is poorly understood. In a wild population of great reed warblers, we found that low-level chronic malaria infection reduced life span as well as the lifetime number and quality of offspring. These delayed fitness effects of malaria appear to be mediated by telomere degradation, a result supported by controlled infection experiments on birds in captivity. The results of this study imply that chronic infection may be causing a series of small adverse effects that accumulate and eventually impair phenotypic quality and Darwinian fitness.