Abstract
An individual's telomere length early in life may reflect or contribute to key life-history processes sensitive to environmental variation. Yet, the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in shaping early-life telomere length is not well understood as it requires samples collected from multiple generations with known developmental histories. We used a confirmed pedigree and conducted an animal model analysis of telomere lengths obtained from nestling house sparrows (Passer domesticus) sampled over a span of 22 years. We found significant additive genetic variation for early-life telomere length, but it comprised a small proportion (9%) of the total biological variation. Three sources of environmental variation were important: among cohorts, among-breeding attempts within years, and among nestmates. The magnitude of variation among breeding attempts and among nestmates also differed by cohort, suggesting that interactive effects of environmental factors across time or spatial scales were important, yet we were unable to identify the specific causes of these interactions. The mean amount of precipitation during the breeding season positively predicted telomere length, but neither weather during a given breeding attempt nor date in the breeding season contributed to an offspring's telomere length. At the level of individual nestlings, offspring sex, size and mass at 10 days of age also did not predict telomere length. Environmental effects appear especially important in shaping early-life telomere length in some species, and more focus on how environmental factors that interact across scales may help to explain some of the variation observed among studies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5959-5970 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Molecular Ecology |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 22 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Funding
We thank the many students who assisted on the sparrow project over the years included in this study. We are particularly thankful for those who contributed over multiple years, including S. Sloane, I. R. K. Stewart, M. I. Hatch, T. Kinnard and D. Wetzel. C. Karrick, Z. Herd and F. Allaham conducted much of the lab analysis for sexing and determining parentage, and Jeffrey Kittilson assisted with the lab analyses of telomere lengths. We thank the National Science Foundation for supporting the fieldwork (grants IBN‐9816989, IBN‐0542097 and IOS1257718) and lab analyses (IOS1656194 and IOS1656212). The University of Kentucky's Agricultural Experiment Station gave permission to conduct research on their site and provided considerable indirect support to the success of the field study. We thank Allison McLaughlin, Allyssa Kilanowski, D. J. McNeil and Jarrod Hadfield for useful comments on the manuscript. We thank the many students who assisted on the sparrow project over the years included in this study. We are particularly thankful for those who contributed over multiple years, including S. Sloane, I. R. K. Stewart, M. I. Hatch, T. Kinnard and D. Wetzel. C. Karrick, Z. Herd and F. Allaham conducted much of the lab analysis for sexing and determining parentage, and Jeffrey Kittilson assisted with the lab analyses of telomere lengths. We thank the National Science Foundation for supporting the fieldwork (grants IBN-9816989, IBN-0542097 and IOS1257718) and lab analyses (IOS1656194 and IOS1656212). The University of Kentucky's Agricultural Experiment Station gave permission to conduct research on their site and provided considerable indirect support to the success of the field study. We thank Allison McLaughlin, Allyssa Kilanowski, D. J. McNeil and Jarrod Hadfield for useful comments on the manuscript.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| University of Kentucky's Agricultural Experiment Station | |
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | IOS1656194, IBN‐9816989, IOS1257718, IOS1656212, IBN‐0542097 |
Keywords
- environmental effects
- heritability
- life history
- parental age
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Genetics