Toxoplasma gondii

Gamble, Amandine, Ramos, Raül, Parra-Torres, Yaiza, Mercier, Aurélien, Galal, Lokman, Pearce-Duvet, Jessica, Villena, Isabelle, Montalvo, Tomás, González-Solís, Jacob, Hammouda, Abdessalem, Oro, Daniel, Selmi, Slaheddine & Boulinier, Thierry, 2019, Exposure of yellow-legged gulls to Toxoplasma gondii along the Western Mediterranean coasts: Tales from a sentinel, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 8, pp. 221-228 : 224

3.2. Relationship between exposure to T. gondii and diet

Complete antibody and isotopic data were available for 129 egg yolk samples (Appendix A, Table S1.2). Distributions of the isotopic ratios (δ 13 C, δ 15 N and δ 34 S) largely overlapped between negative and positive nests ( Fig. 4 ), suggesting no relationship between nest antibody status and inferred breeding females' diet. This observation was confirmed by the fact that none of the isotopic signature had a significant effect on the nest status in the selected models (Appendix A, Table S3.3; n = 129 samples).

Figures

Fig. 4. Biplots of δ13C and δ15N (a) and δ34S and δ15N (b) representing the isotopic variability of yellow-legged gull albumen samples as a response of their immunological status against T. gondii. Isotopic signatures (as a proxy of females' diet) and egg/nest immunological status (as a proxy of females' exposure to the parasite) does not appear to be related. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)