ArticleEcology letters2022
Sexual dimorphism in immune function and oxidative physiology across birds: The role of sexual selection.
Article in Ecology letters, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolutionary drivers of sex-specific parasite prevalence in wild birds.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Hepatic immunometabolic signatures associated with the heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratio reveal sex-dependent patterns in yellow-legged ma chickens.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Male-Biased Adult Mortality in the Great Bustard Is Consistent With High Reproductive Costs and Aggravated by Anthropogenic Impact.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Sex-specific immunocompetence: resistance and tolerance can both be futile but not under the same circumstances.Evolution letters · 2025Article
- Phylogenetic Relationships of Immune Function and Oxidative Physiology With Sexual Selection and Parental Effort in Male and Female Birds.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Chromosome-level reference genome assembly of the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) and population genomics offer insights into the falcon population in Mongolia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Gonadal miRNomes and transcriptomes in infected fish reveal sexually dimorphic patterns of the immune response.Functional & integrative genomics · 2025Article
- Urbanization enhances body condition, but not innate immune defences, in a common waterbird.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Antibodies against medically relevant arthropod-borne viruses in the ubiquitous African rodent Mastomys natalensis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- Correlated evolution of oxidative physiology and MHC-based immunosurveillance in birds.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- The gut microbiota-immune-brain axis in a wild vertebrate: dynamic interactions and health impacts.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity.Biology letters · 2023Article
- Low Antioxidant Glutathione Levels Lead to Longer Telomeres: A Sex-Specific Link to Longevity?Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Effects of manipulated food availability and seasonality on innate immune function in a passerine.The Journal of animal ecology · 2022Article
- Oxidative physiology is weakly associated with pigmentation in birds.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Sexual dimorphism in immune function and oxidative physiology across birds: The role of sexual selection.Ecology letters · 2022Article
- Sex differences in testosterone and hematocrit levels reflect mating system differences of two Arctic-breeding shorebird species.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Sex-specific physiology is commonly reported in animals, often indicating lower immune indices and higher oxidative stress in males than in females. Sexual selection is argued to explain these differences, but empirical evidence is limited. Here, we explore sex differences in immunity, oxidative physiology and packed cell volume of wild, adult, breeding birds (97 species, 1997 individuals, 14 230 physiological measurements). We show that higher female immune indices are most common across birds (when bias is present), but oxidative physiology shows no general sex-bias and packed cell volume is generally male-biased. In contrast with predictions based on sexual selection, male-biased sexual size dimorphism is associated with male-biased immune measures. Sexual dichromatism, mating system and parental roles had no effect on sex-specificity in physiology. Importantly, female-biased immunity remained after accounting for sexual selection indices. We conclude that cross-species differences in physiological sex-bias are largely unrelated to sexual selection and alternative explanations should be explored.
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