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Immune responsiveness in adult blue tits: heritability and effects of nutritional status during ontogeny

  • Ecophysiology
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Abstract

What is the relative contribution of genetic and various environmental factors to variation in the ability to mount an immune response? We measured antibody responsiveness to diphtheria-tetanus vaccine during the winter in free-ranging blue tits with a known nestling history to investigate (1) if nutritional status during the nestling stage has persistent effects on an individual's immune defence and (2) if immune responsiveness is heritable. There was no correlation between nutritional status during the nestling phase (measured as size-corrected body mass day 14 post-hatch) and antibody responsiveness as an adult. On the other hand, the heritability of responsiveness to diphtheria and tetanus, as estimated by parent-offspring regression, was 0.21±0.51 and 1.21±0.40 SE, respectively. Thus, while there was little evidence that natural variation in antibody responsiveness to these antigens reflected nutritional conditions during early life, responsiveness to at least one of the antigens (tetanus) had a strong genetic component.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Claus Koch (Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen) for producing the rabbit-anti-starling antiserum and J. Grindstaff, J.-Å. Nilsson and two anonymous referees for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by Lunds Djurskyddsfond and the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (to L.R.) and SJFR/Formas, Carl Tryggers Stiftelse, and Crafoordska Stiftelsen (to D.H.). The study was approved by the ethical committee for animal research Malmö/Lund.

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  1. Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Lars Råberg, Martin Stjernman & Dennis Hasselquist

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  1. Lars Råberg
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  2. Martin Stjernman
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  3. Dennis Hasselquist
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Correspondence to Lars Råberg.

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Råberg, L., Stjernman, M. & Hasselquist, D. Immune responsiveness in adult blue tits: heritability and effects of nutritional status during ontogeny. Oecologia 136, 360–364 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1287-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1287-3

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