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25 results for “Melospiza melodia”
Acute stress and restricted diet reduce bill-mediated heat dissipation in the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia): Implications for optimal thermoregulation
<p>We used thermal imaging to show that two environmental factors—acute stress and diet—influence thermoregulatory performance of a known thermal window, the avian bill. The bill plays important roles in thermoregulation and water balance. Given that heat loss through the bill is adjustable through vasoconstriction and vasodilation, and acute stress can cause vasoconstriction in peripheral body surfaces, we hypothesized that stress may influence the bill's role as a thermal window. We further hypothesized that diet influences heat dissipation from the bill given that body condition influences the surface temperature of another body region (the eye region). We measured the surface temperature of the bills of song sparrows (<em>Melospiza</em> <em>melodia</em>) before, during, and after handling by an observer at 37°C ambient temperature. We fed five birds a restricted diet intended to maintain bodyweights typical of wild birds, and we fed six birds an unrestricted diet for five months prior to experiments. Acute stress caused a decrease in the surface temperature of the bill, resulting in a 32.4% decrease in heat dissipation immediately following acute stress, before recovering over approximately 2.3 minutes. The initial reduction and subsequent recovery provide partial support for the haemoprotective and thermoprotective hypotheses, which predict a reduction or increase in peripheral blood flow, respectively. Birds with unrestricted diets had larger bills and dissipated more heat, indicating that diet and body condition influence bill-mediated heat dissipation and thermoregulation. These results indicate that stress-induced vascular changes and diet can influence mechanisms of heat loss and potentially inhibit optimal thermoregulation.</p>
Acute stress and restricted diet reduce bill-mediated heat dissipation in the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia): Implications for optimal thermoregulation
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Relationship between Channel Island Melospiza melodia (Song Sparrow) bill size and vegetation, seed extraction time, bite force, and climate (2014-2016)
<p>Inferring the environmental selection pressures responsible for phenotypic variation is a challenge in adaptation studies as traits often have multiple functions and are shaped by complex selection regimes. We provide indirect evidence that morphology of the multifunctional avian bill is primarily shaped by climate and thermoregulatory ability in <em>Melospiza melodia</em> (Song Sparrows) on the California Channel Islands. Our research builds on a study in Song Sparrow museum specimens that demonstrated a positive correlation between bill surface area and maximum temperature, suggesting a greater demand for dry heat dissipation in hotter, xeric environments. We sampled contemporary sparrow populations across three climatically distinct islands to test the hypotheses that bill morphology is influenced by habitat differences with functional consequences for foraging efficiency and is related to maximum temperature and, consequently, important for thermoregulation. Measurements of >500 live individuals indicated a significant, positive relationship between maximum temperature and bill surface area when correcting for body size. In contrast, maximum bite force, seed extraction time, and vegetation on breeding territories (a proxy for food resources) were not significantly associated with bill dimensions. While we cannot exclude the influence of foraging ability and diet on bill morphology, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that variation in Song Sparrows' need for thermoregulatory capacity across the northern Channel Islands selects for divergence in bill surface area.</p>
Relationship between Channel Island Melospiza melodia (Song Sparrow) bill size and vegetation, seed extraction time, bite force, and climate (2014-2016)
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Data from: Is pairing with a relative heritable? estimating female and male genetic contributions to the degree of biparental inbreeding in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
The degree of inbreeding expressed within populations can profoundly shape evolutionary dynamics. The degree to which individuals inbreed is frequently assumed to evolve in response to selection, for example resulting from inbreeding depression. Such evolutionary responses require additive genetic variance (VA) in the degree to which individuals inbreed. However, the magnitude of VA in the degree of biparental inbreeding has never been estimated. We devised a quantitative genetic model to estimate sex-specific VA in the degree to which individuals inbreed, while accounting for effects of individuals' own coefficients of inbreeding and genetic effects stemming from immigration. We applied this model to the degree of inbreeding expressed through social pairing in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). VA estimates for both sexes appreciably exceeded zero and the cross-sex genetic covariance was strongly positive, creating substantial total VA in the degree of inbreeding. Our analyses also revealed inbreeding depression in the degree of inbreeding such that more inbred individuals paired with closer relatives, and immigrant effects such that individuals with greater genomic contributions from immigrants paired with more distant relatives. We thereby demonstrate that the degree of biparental inbreeding can show substantial VA in nature and might consequently evolve in response to selection.
Data from: Individuals' expected genetic contributions to future generations, reproductive value, and short-term metrics of fitness in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
Appropriately defining and enumerating 'fitness' is fundamental to explaining and predicting evolutionary dynamics. Yet, general theoretical concepts of fitness are often hard to translate into quantities that can be measured 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 can rarely be measured, impeding evaluation of the degree to which tractable short-term metrics of individual fitness could potentially serve as useful direct proxies. 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 theoretical 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 (i.e. ~8 generation) time period, allowing estimation of individual Vi. Considerable among-individual variation in Vi was evident in both sexes. Standard metrics of individual lifetime fitness, comprising lifespan, lifetime reproductive success and projected growth rate, typically explained less than half the variation. We thereby elucidate the degree to which fitness metrics observed on individuals concur with measures of longer-term genetic contributions, and consider the degree to which analyses of pedigree structure could provide useful complementary insights into evolutionary outcomes.
Data from: Female and male genetic effects on offspring paternity: additive genetic (co)variances in female extra-pair reproduction and male paternity success in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
Ongoing evolution of polyandry, and consequent extra-pair reproduction in socially monogamous systems, is hypothesised to be facilitated by indirect selection stemming from cross-sex genetic covariances with components of male fitness. Specifically, polyandry is hypothesised to create positive genetic covariance with male paternity success due to inevitable assortative reproduction, driving ongoing coevolution. However, it remains unclear whether such covariances could or do emerge within complex polyandrous systems. First, we illustrate that genetic covariances between female extra-pair reproduction and male within-pair paternity success might be constrained in socially monogamous systems where female and male additive genetic effects can have opposing impacts on the paternity of jointly reared offspring. Second, we demonstrate non-zero additive genetic variance in female liability for extra-pair reproduction and male liability for within-pair paternity success, modelled as direct and associative genetic effects on offspring paternity respectively, in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). The posterior mean additive genetic covariance between these liabilities was slightly positive, but the credible interval was wide and overlapped zero. Therefore, while substantial total additive genetic variance exists, the hypothesis that ongoing evolution of female extra-pair reproduction is facilitated by genetic covariance with male within-pair paternity success cannot yet be definitively supported or rejected either conceptually or empirically.
Data from: A microsatellite-based linkage map for song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
Although linkage maps are important tools in evolutionary biology, their availability for wild populations is limited. The population of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) on Mandarte Island, Canada, is among the more intensively studied wild animal populations. Its long-term pedigree data, together with extensive genetic sampling, have allowed the study of a range of questions in evolutionary biology and ecology. However, the availability of genetic markers has been limited. We here describe 191 new microsatellite loci, including 160 high-quality polymorphic autosomal, 7 Z-linked and 1 W-linked markers. We used these markers to construct a linkage map for song sparrows with a total sex-averaged map length of 1731 cM and covering 35 linkage groups, and hence, these markers cover most of the 38–40 chromosomes. Female and male map lengths did not differ significantly. We then bioinformatically mapped these loci to the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) genome and found that linkage groups were conserved between song sparrows and zebra finches. Compared to the zebra finch, marker order within small linkage groups was well conserved, whereas the larger linkage groups showed some intrachromosomal rearrangements. Finally, we show that as expected, recombination frequency between linked loci explained the majority of variation in gametic phase disequilibrium. Yet, there was substantial overlap in gametic phase disequilibrium between pairs of linked and unlinked loci. Given that the microsatellites described here lie on 35 of the 38–40 chromosomes, these markers will be useful for studies in this species, as well as for comparative genomics studies with other species.
Data from: Offspring fitness varies with parental extra-pair status in song sparrows, Melospiza melodia
Numerous studies have tested for indirect selection on female extra-pair reproduction (EPR) by quantifying whether extra-pair young (EPY) are fitter than their within-pair young (WPY) maternal half-siblings. In contrast, the hypothesis that offspring of EPY and WPY (rather than the EPY and WPY themselves) differ in fitness has not been tested, even though inter-generational effects of parental extra-pair status on offspring fitness could alter the magnitude and direction of indirect selection on EPR. We tested whether offspring of EPY song sparrows, Melospiza melodia, were more likely to recruit or produce hatched or recruited offspring over their lifetimes than offspring of WPY. Hatchlings with one or two EPY parents were more likely to recruit and produce hatched offspring than hatchlings with two WPY parents. Furthermore, these relationships differed between maternal versus paternal extra-pair status. Hatchlings with EPY fathers were more likely to recruit and produce offspring than hatchlings with WPY fathers. In contrast, hatchlings with EPY mothers were as likely to recruit as hatchlings with WPY mothers and tended to be less likely to produce recruited offspring. Depending on the causal genetic and environmental mechanisms, such conflicting inter-generational relationships between parental extra-pair status and offspring fitness could substantially influence the evolutionary dynamics of EPR.
Data from: Resolving the conundrum of inbreeding depression but no inbreeding avoidance: estimating sex-specific selection on inbreeding by song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
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Data from: A microsatellite-based linkage map for song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
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Data from: Offspring fitness varies with parental extra-pair status in song sparrows, Melospiza melodia
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Data from: Is pairing with a relative heritable? estimating female and male genetic contributions to the degree of biparental inbreeding in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
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Data from: Individuals’ expected genetic contributions to future generations, reproductive value, and short-term metrics of fitness in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
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Data from: Sex-specific additive genetic variances and correlations for fitness in a song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) population subject to natural immigration and inbreeding
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Data from: Elevating perceived predation risk modifies the relationship between parental effort and song complexity in the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
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Data from: Female and male genetic effects on offspring paternity: additive genetic (co)variances in female extra-pair reproduction and male paternity success in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
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Data from: Extra-pair paternity and the variance in male fitness in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
The variance in fitness across population members can influence major evolutionary processes. In socially monogamous but genetically polygynandrous species, extra-pair paternity (EPP) is widely hypothesized to increase the variance in male fitness compared to that arising given the socially monogamous mating system. This hypothesis has not been definitively tested because comprehensive data describing males' apparent (social) and realized (genetic) fitness have been lacking. We used 16 years of comprehensive social and genetic paternity data for an entire free-living song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) population to quantify and compare variances in male apparent and realized fitness, and to quantify the contribution of the variances in within-pair and extra-pair reproductive success and their covariance to the variance in realized fitness. Overall, EPP increased the variance in male fitness by only 0-27% across different fitness and variance measures. This relatively small effect reflected the presence of socially unpaired males with zero apparent and low realized fitness, small covariance between within- and extra-pair reproductive success and large variance in within-pair reproductive success that was relatively unaffected by EPP. Therefore, although EPP altered individual males' contributions to future generations, its impact on population-level parameters such as the opportunity for selection and effective population size was limited.
Data from: Song sparrows Melospiza melodia have a home-field advantage in defending against sympatric malarial parasites
Hosts and parasites interact on both evolutionary and ecological timescales. The outcome of these interactions, specifically whether hosts are more resistant to their local parasites (sympatric) than to parasites from another location (allopatric), is likely to affect the spread of infectious disease and the fitness consequences of host dispersal. We conducted a cross-infection experiment to determine whether song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) have an advantage in dealing with sympatric parasites. We captured birds from two breeding sites 437 km apart, and inoculated them with avian malaria (Plasmodium spp.) cultured either from their capture site or from the other site. Infection risk was lower for birds exposed to sympatric than to allopatric Plasmodium lineages, suggesting that song sparrows may have a home-field advantage in defending against local parasite strains. This pattern was more pronounced at one capture site than at the other, consistent with mosaic models of host–parasite interactions. Home-field advantage may arise from evolutionary processes, whereby host populations become adapted to their local parasites, and/or from ecological interactions, whereby host individuals develop resistance to the local parasites through previous immune exposure. Our findings suggest that greater susceptibility to novel parasites may represent a fitness consequence of natal dispersal.
Channel Islands song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) landscape genomics and adaptation to climate with gene flow dataset
<p>Disentangling the effects of neutral and adaptive processes in maintaining phenotypic variation across environmental gradients is challenging in natural populations. <span>Song sparrows (<i>Melospiza melodia</i>) on the California Channel Islands occupy a pronounced east-west climate gradient within a small spatial extent, providing a unique opportunity to examine the interaction of genetic isolation (gene flow) and the environment (selection) in driving variation</span>. We used reduced representation genomic libraries to infer the role of neutral processes (drift and restricted gene flow) and divergent selection in driving variation in thermoregulatory traits with an emphasis on the mechanisms that maintain bill divergence among islands. Analyses of 22,029 neutral SNPs confirm distinct population structure by island with restricted gene flow and relatively large effective population sizes, suggesting bill differences are likely not a product of genetic drift. Instead, we found strong support for local adaptation using 3,294 SNPs in differentiation-based and environmental association analyses coupled with genome-wide association (GWA) tests. Specifically, we identified several putatively adaptive and candidate loci in or near genes involved in bill development pathways (<i>e.g.</i>, <i>BMP</i>, <i>CaM</i>, <i>Wnt</i>), confirming the highly complex and polygenic architecture underlying bill morphology. Furthermore, we found divergence in genes associated with other thermoregulatory traits (i.e., feather structure, plumage color, and physiology). Collectively, these results suggest strong divergent selection across an island archipelago results in genomic changes in a suite of traits associated with thermal adaptation over small spatial scales. Future research should move beyond the study of univariate traits to better understand the multivariate adaptive responses to these complex climate regimes.</p>
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