scholarly journals Individuals’ expected genetic contributions to future generations, reproductive value, and short-term metrics of fitness in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia )

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M. Reid ◽  
Pirmin Nietlisbach ◽  
Matthew E. Wolak ◽  
Lukas F. Keller ◽  
Peter Arcese
Keyword(s):  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Genetic Contributions

scholarly journals Individuals’ expected genetic contributions to future generations, reproductive value, and short-term metrics of fitness in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M. Reid ◽  
Pirmin Nietlisbach ◽  
Matthew E. Wolak ◽  
Lukas F. Keller ◽  
Peter Arcese
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Genetic Contributions

AbstractAppropriately defining and enumerating ‘fitness’ is fundamental to explaining and predicting evolutionary dynamics. Yet theoretical concepts of fitness are often hard to translate into quantities that can be quantified in wild populations experiencing complex environmental, demographic, genetic and selective variation. While the ‘fittest’ entities might be widely understood to be those that ultimately leave most descendants at some future time, such long-term legacies are hard to measure, impeding evaluation of how well more tractable short-term metrics of individual fitness directly predict longer-term outcomes. One opportunity for conceptual and empirical convergence stems from the principle of individual reproductive value (Vi), defined as the number of copies of each of an individual’s alleles that is expected to be present in future generations given the individual’s realised pedigree of descendants. Since Vi tightly predicts an individual’s longer-term genetic contribution, quantifying Vi provides a tractable route to quantifying what, to date, has been an abstract fitness concept. We used complete pedigree data from free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) to demonstrate that individuals’ expected genetic contributions stabilise within an observed 20-year time period, allowing individual Vi to be evaluated. Considerable among-individual variation in Vi was evident in both sexes. However, standard short-term metrics of individual fitness, comprising lifespan, lifetime reproductive success and projected growth rate, typically explained less than half the variation. Given these results, we discuss what evolutionary inferences can and cannot be directly drawn from short-term versus longer-term fitness metrics observed on individuals, and highlight that analyses of pedigree structure may provide useful complementary insights into evolutionary processes and outcomes.

scholarly journals Fitness Correlates of Song Repertoire Size in Free‐Living Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia)

2005 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M. Reid ◽  
Peter Arcese ◽  
Alice L. E. V. Cassidy ◽  
Sara M. Hiebert ◽  
James N. M. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Song Sparrows

scholarly journals Long-term maternal effect on offspring immune response in song sparrows Melospiza melodia

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M Reid ◽  
Peter Arcese ◽  
Lukas F Keller ◽  
Dennis Hasselquist
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Parasitic Infection ◽  
Antibody Responses ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Humoral Immune ◽  
Song Sparrows

Knowledge of the causes of variation in host immunity to parasitic infection and the time-scales over which variation persists, is integral to predicting the evolutionary and epidemiological consequences of host–parasite interactions. It is clear that offspring immunity can be influenced by parental immune experience, for example, reflecting transfer of antibodies from mothers to young offspring. However, it is less clear whether such parental effects persist or have functional consequences over longer time-scales, linking a parent's previous immune experience to future immune responsiveness in fully grown offspring. We used free-living song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) to quantify long-term effects of parental immune experience on offspring immune response. We experimentally vaccinated parents with a novel antigen and tested whether parental vaccination influenced the humoral antibody response mounted by fully grown offspring hatched the following year. Parental vaccination did not influence offspring baseline antibody titres. However, offspring of vaccinated mothers mounted substantially stronger antibody responses than offspring of unvaccinated mothers. Antibody responses did not differ between offspring of vaccinated and unvaccinated fathers. These data demonstrate substantial long-term effects of maternal immune experience on the humoral immune response of fully grown offspring in free-living birds.

scholarly journals Inbreeding effects on immune response in free-living song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia )

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1610) ◽  
pp. 697-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M Reid ◽  
Peter Arcese ◽  
Lukas F Keller ◽  
Kyle H Elliott ◽  
Laura Sampson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Parasitic Infection ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Primary Antibody ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Primary Antibody Response ◽  
Immune Challenges

The consequences of inbreeding for host immunity to parasitic infection have broad implications for the evolutionary and dynamical impacts of parasites on populations where inbreeding occurs. To rigorously assess the magnitude and the prevalence of inbreeding effects on immunity, multiple components of host immune response should be related to inbreeding coefficient ( f ) in free-living individuals. We used a pedigreed, free-living population of song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) to test whether individual responses to widely used experimental immune challenges varied consistently with f . The patagial swelling response to phytohaemagglutinin declined markedly with f in both females and males in both 2002 and 2003, although overall inbreeding depression was greater in males. The primary antibody response to tetanus toxoid declined with f in females but not in males in both 2004 and 2005. Primary antibody responses to diphtheria toxoid were low but tended to decline with f in 2004. Overall inbreeding depression did not solely reflect particularly strong immune responses in outbred offspring of immigrant–native pairings or weak responses in highly inbred individuals. These data indicate substantial and apparently sex-specific inbreeding effects on immune response, implying that inbred hosts may be relatively susceptible to parasitic infection to differing degrees in males and females.

scholarly journals Fitness Correlates of Song Repertoire Size in Free-Living Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia)

2005 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Reid ◽  
Arcese ◽  
Alice L. E. V. Cassidy ◽  
Hiebert ◽  
James N. M. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Song Sparrows

scholarly journals Song Sparrow (Melospiza Melodia) Song Varies with Urban Noise

The Auk ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 650-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Wood ◽  
Stephen M. Yezerinac
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Noise ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Rural Environments

Abstract In urban environments, anthropogenic noise may mask bird song, especially the notes occurring at lower frequencies (1–2 kHz). Birds living in urban environments may modify their songs, particularly the low-frequency portions, to minimize masking by anthropogenic noise. Such modifications have been observed in Great Tits (Parus major) in The Netherlands, as well as in some mammals. We studied Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia), which are common in both urban and rural environments in much of North America, and recorded the songs of 28 free- living males in Portland, Oregon. We also measured the amplitude and spectrum of ambient noise at singing locations. Song Sparrows singing at noisier locations exhibited higher-frequency low notes and had relatively less energy (amplitude) in the low-frequency range of their songs (1–4 kHz), where most anthropogenic noise also occurred. Although the mechanism(s) producing the correlation are as yet undetermined, the observed match between song and noise may result from behavioral plasticity. We discuss explanations for these patterns and how to test them. Le Chant de Melospiza melodia Varie avec le Bruit Urbain

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