Phenotypic and Genetic Variance of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) Early in Development

Autor: Tria B. Kinnard, David F. Westneat
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Auk. 126:884-895
ISSN: 1938-4254
0004-8038
DOI: 10.1525/auk.2009.08119
Popis: Phenotypic diversity is essential to the evolutionary process. We used a partial cross-foster design to investigate sources of variation in a component of immunity and three morphological traits in nestling House Sparrows (Passer domesticus). We found substantial differences in the causes of variation across traits. Most traits were influenced by date in the season; nestlings hatching later in the year were less developed, were smaller, and exhibited a lower immune response at age 10 days than nestlings hatched early in the season. Variation in rearing environment had significant effects on condition, growth, and immune response, but this could not be attributed to variation in provisioning rate. The number of offspring reared together had a negative effect on condition, but no effect on immune response. Only immune response showed significant origin-related variation. Interestingly, offspring sex had several complex effects. Males showed greater origin-related and less rearing-related variance ...
Databáze: OpenAIRE