Spleen volume varies with colony size and parasite load in a colonial bird

Abstract

Comparisons across bird species have indicated that those more exposed to parasites and pathogens invest more in immunological defence, as measured by spleen size. We investigated how spleen volume varied with colony size, parasite load and an individual's colony–size history in the cliff swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, a colonial passerine bird of North America. We used a sample of over 1700 birds that had all died during a period of inclement weather in 1996. We experimentally manipulated ectoparasitism by fumigating nests in some colonies prior to the bad weather. Birds from parasite–free colonies had significantly smaller spleens than those from naturally infested sites; spleen volume did not differ between the sexes and did not vary with age. Mean spleen volume increased significantly with the colony size at a site prior to the bad weather in 1996 and at the site in 1995, both measures of colony size being indices of ectoparasitism at a site. An individual's history of breeding–colony size (defined as the average colony size it had occupied in years prior to 1996) had no association with its spleen size. The results are consistent with parasite–induced splenomegaly whenever birds are exposed to large numbers of ectoparasites. The results do not support spleen size as being a signal of differential life–history investment in immunological defence among individuals and thus run counter to interpretations from recent cross–species comparisons.