Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

The Royal Society, Royal Society Open Science, 5(9), 2022

DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211749

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Adverse weather duringin uterodevelopment is linked to higher rates of later-life herpesvirus reactivation in adult European badgers,Meles meles

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Maternal immune and/or metabolic conditions relating to stress or nutritional status can affectin uterodevelopment among offspring with subsequent implications for later-life responses to infections. We used free-ranging European badgers as a host-pathogen model to investigate how prenatal weather conditions affect later-life herpesvirus genital tract reactivation. We applied a sliding window analysis of weather conditions to 164 samples collected in 2018 from 95 individuals born between 2005–2016. We test if the monthly mean and variation in rainfall and temperature experienced by their mother during the 12 months of delayed implantation and gestation prior to parturition subsequently affected individual herpes reactivation rates among these offspring. We identified four influential prenatal seasonal weather windows that corresponded with previously identified critical climatic conditions affecting badger survival, fecundity and body condition. These all occurred during the pre-implantation rather than the post-implantation period. We conclude that environmental cues during thein uteroperiod of delayed implantation may result in changes that affect an individual's developmental programming against infection or viral reactivation later in life. This illustrates how prenatal adversity caused by environmental factors, such as climate change, can impact wildlife health and population dynamics—an interaction largely overlooked in wildlife management and conservation programmes.