Integration of Spectral Reflectance across the Plumage: Implications for Mating Patterns

Laczi, Miklós; Török, János; Rosivall, Balázs; Hegyi, Gergely

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023201

Cited by 18 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 108 publications

(139 reference statements)

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“…This lack of multicollinearity also suggests that different traits do not form a general, integrated signal. This finding is in line with recent discoveries in great tits and collared flycatchers (Hegyi et al., 2015; Laczi et al., 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, males and females may assess each other using different signals and/or different aspects of the same signal. However, few studies have investigated whether the two sexes differ in the signals/signal aspects they use (Hegyi et al, 2015;Laczi, Török, Rosivall, & Hegyi, 2011). When studying coloration, the influence of different signals on mate choice is difficult to unravel because of multicollinearity among traits.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Assortative mating by colored ornaments in blue tits: space and time matter

Fargevieille

Grégoire

Charmantier

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Assortative mating is a potential outcome of sexual selection, and estimating its level is important to better understand local adaptation and underlying trait evolution. However, assortative mating studies frequently base their conclusions on small numbers of individuals sampled over short periods of time and limited spatial scales even though spatiotemporal variation is common. Here, we characterized assortative mating patterns over 10 years in four populations of the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), a passerine bird. We focused on two plumage ornaments—the blue crown and the yellow breast patch. Based on data for 1,657 pairs of birds, we found large interannual variation: assortative mating varied from positive to negative. To determine whether there was nonetheless a general trend in the data, we ran a within‐study meta‐analysis. It revealed that assortative mating was moderately positive for both ornaments. It also showed that mating patterns differed among populations and especially between two neighboring populations that displayed phenotypic divergence. Our results therefore underscore that long‐term studies are needed to draw broad conclusions about mating patterns in natural populations. They also call for studying the potential role of assortative mating in local adaptation and evolution of ornaments in both sexes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assortative mating by colored ornaments in blue tits: space and time matter

Fargevieille

Grégoire

Charmantier

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Furthermore, in that signal system, different traits conveyed very different information about their bearers (Chaine & Lyon, ). By contrast, in a population of collared flycatchers ( Ficedula albicollis ), mating patterns suggested a special function for the plumage‐level parallel variation of colour in mate acquisition (Laczi et al ., ) and life‐history correlates revealed multiple independent, composite colour axes with different information content in the same plumage (Laczi et al ., ). In our great tit population, we found correlated expression between some colour traits but no functional integration, at least in terms of assortative mating.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable correlation structure among multiple plumage colour traits: can they work as a single signal?

Hegyi

Laczi

Szász

et al. 2014

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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The presence of multiple distinct ornamental traits in the same species is frequently explained by contextspecificity and different information content. However, the expression of multiple ornaments is often correlated, and such traits may therefore function as a single, integrated signal. Delayed use of an integrated signal relative to production requires temporal stability in integration, which has seldom been examined. We used autumn and spring reflectance data from the breast, breast stripe, and crown of great tits (Parus major) to assess the stability and mating implications of colour signal integration, as well as the repeatability of any integrated colour trait and its correlation with condition during moult. We found high levels of stability between seasons, years, sexes, and ages in the correlation patterns of colour measures across the three plumage areas. The first principal component colour axis described joint variation of ultraviolet (UV) reflectance on the crown and the breast stripe, thereby representing an among-trait UV chroma axis. However, only breast yellow chroma showed condition-dependence, whereas temporally consistent and significant assortative mating was restricted to crown UV chroma. Our results therefore do not support the idea that the overall UV chroma of the breast stripe and the crown is special in condition-dependence and repeatability, or that it plays a specific role in mutual sexual selection as an integrated signal. The results show that stable association between display traits is an existing phenomenon. They also indicate that, even in the presence of correlated traits, functional trait integration among these requires further scrutiny.

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“…Although selection on male plumage ornaments has been widely studied in the pied flycatcher, most studies have concentrated on only one or few phenotypic traits at a time and no study has compared selection acting on plumage traits across populations. When studying ornamentation, it is important to examine multiple attributes simultaneously (Candolin, ; Laczi et al ., ). We analyzed selection on five different plumage traits that cover the main axis of male colour variation in this species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fecundity selection does not vary along a large geographical cline of trait means in a passerine bird

Sirkiä

Adamík

Artemyev

et al. 2015

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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Local environmental and ecological conditions are commonly expected to result in local adaptation, although there are few examples of variation in phenotypic selection across continent-wide spatial scales. We collected standardized data on selection with respect to the highly variable plumage coloration of pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca Pall.) males from 17 populations across the species' breeding range. The observed selection on multiple male coloration traits via the annual number of fledged young was generally relatively weak. The main aim of the present study, however, was to examine whether the current directional selection estimates are associated with distance to the sympatric area with the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis Temminck), a sister species with which the pied flycatcher is showing character displacement. This pattern was expected because plumage traits *Corresponding author. Current address: Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: paivi.sirkia@helsinki.fi in male pied flycatchers are changing with the distance to these areas of sympatry. However, we did not find such a pattern in current selection on coloration. There were no associations between current directional selection on ornamentation and latitude or longitude either. Interestingly, current selection on coloration traits was not associated with the observed mean plumage traits of the populations. Thus, there do not appear to be geographical gradients in current directional fecundity selection on male plumage ornamentation. The results of the present study do not support the idea that constant patterns in directional fecundity selection would play a major role in the maintenance of coloration among populations in this species. By contrast, the tendency for relatively weak mosaic-like variation in selection among populations could reflect just a snapshot of temporally variable, potentially environment-dependent, selection, as suggested by other studies in this system. Such fine-grained variable selection coupled with gene flow could maintain extensive phenotypic variation across populations.

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Integration of Spectral Reflectance across the Plumage: Implications for Mating Patterns

Cited by 18 publications

References 108 publications

Assortative mating by colored ornaments in blue tits: space and time matter

Assortative mating by colored ornaments in blue tits: space and time matter

Stable correlation structure among multiple plumage colour traits: can they work as a single signal?

Fecundity selection does not vary along a large geographical cline of trait means in a passerine bird

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