Arbovirus infection increases with group size

Testosterone and group size in cliff swallows: testing the "challenge hypothesis" in a colonial bird

The "challenge hypothesis" states that increases in testosterone levels of male animals during the breeding season are directly related to the extent of intrasexual competition for resources or mates that they experience. Although often tested in territorial species, the challenge hypothesis has not been evaluated for colonial animals that live in groups of different sizes and that thus experience different intensities of intrasexual competition. We measured circulating testosterone levels of male and female cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in southwestern Nebraska, where these birds nest in colonies of widely different sizes. Males had significantly higher testosterone levels than females, as expected. For males especially, there was a seasonal rise in testosterone levels early in the nesting cycle, corresponding to the period when birds were establishing nest ownership and egg laying, and then a fall as they switched to parental duties. Testosterone levels varied significantly with colony size; for both sexes, birds in larger colonies had higher levels of testosterone than those in smaller colonies when controlling for date. Age and body mass were not related to testosterone levels. Higher levels of testosterone for birds of both sexes in larger colonies probably reflect greater competition for matings, often extra pair, in the more social nesting situations. The results support the predictions of the challenge hypothesis.

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

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.