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Contrasting adaptive immune defenses and blood parasite prevalence in closely related Passer sparrows

  • Ecophysiology
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Abstract

Immune system components differ in their functions and costs, and immune defense profiles are likely to vary among species with differing ecologies. We compared adaptive immune defenses in two closely related species that have contrasting inflammatory immune responses, the widespread and abundant house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the less abundant tree sparrow (Passer montanus). We found that the house sparrow, which we have previously shown mounts weaker inflammatory responses, exhibits stronger adaptive immune defenses, including antibody responses, natural antibody titers, and specific T-cell memory, than the tree sparrow. Conversely, tree sparrows, which mount strong inflammatory responses, also mount stronger nonspecific inflammatory T-cell responses but weaker specific adaptive responses. Prevalence of avian malaria parasite infections, which are controlled by adaptive immune defenses, was higher in the geographically restricted tree sparrow than in the ubiquitous house sparrow. Together these data describe distinct immune defense profiles between two closely related species that differ greatly in numbers and distributions. We suggest that these immunological differences could affect fitness in ways that contribute to the contrasting abundances of the two species in North American and Western Europe.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ross Adams (USFWS) and Kevin Matson for help with collection permits and lodging, Lisa Fitzgerald for help with field collecting, Douglas Sejberg for conducting the KLH ELISAs, and Laura Spinney, Michaela Hau, and Kirk Klasing for valuable input on the manuscript. This work was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts award #2000-002558, NSF-IRCEB IBN0212587, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial planning (Formas), the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Carl Trygger Foundation and the Crafoord Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Kelly A. Lee, Lynn B. Martin II & Martin Wikelski

  2. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lynn B. Martin II

  3. Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Dennis Hasselquist

  4. Department of Biology, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA

    Robert E. Ricklefs

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  1. Kelly A. Lee
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  2. Lynn B. Martin II
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  3. Dennis Hasselquist
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  4. Robert E. Ricklefs
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  5. Martin Wikelski
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Correspondence to Kelly A. Lee.

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Communicated by Carol Vleck.

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Lee, K.A., Martin, L.B., Hasselquist, D. et al. Contrasting adaptive immune defenses and blood parasite prevalence in closely related Passer sparrows. Oecologia 150, 383–392 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0537-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0537-6

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