Partial or complete? The evolution of post‐juvenile moult strategies in passerine birds

Delhey, Kaspar; Guallar, Santi; Rueda‐Hernández, Rafael; Vâlcu, Mihai; Wang, Daiping; Kempenaers, Bart

doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13354

Cited by 16 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 119 publications

(167 reference statements)

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“…Analogously, shared phylogenetic history may have played a decisive role on phenotypic diversity. Thus, both the preformative and the prealternate moults show a large phylogenetic signal (Guallar and Jovani 2020a), with many ecological factors explaining a small proportion of the observed variation (Delhey et al 2021), while important evolutionary transitions such as habitat shifts likely explaining adaptive changes in moult (Guallar et al 2021). This evolutionary balance likely requires the interaction of multiple factors, both adaptive and non‐adaptive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moult phenotypes differed between the preformative moult of young birds (equivalent to the postjuvenile moult; Jenni and Winkler 1994), which replace their juvenile plumage soon after fledging (Howell et al 2003), and the prealternate moult of older birds (equivalent to the prebreeding moult; Jenni and Winkler 1994), which takes place after the prebasic moult (equivalent to the postbreeding moult; Jenni and Winkler 1994) and before the onset of the breeding season (typically in the wintering grounds for migratory species; Humphrey and Parkes 1959). Moreover, closely related species showed similar frequencies of moult phenotypes within the preformative and the prealternate moult episodes (Guallar and Jovani 2020a), with a large percentage of the variation among species due to shared ancestry (Delhey et al 2021). Altogether, this suggests a complex scenario created by the interplay between seasonal variation, the adaptive value of moult phenotypes and the constraints imposed by evolutionary history.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Moult nestedness and its imperfections: insights to unravel the nature of passerine wing‐feather moult rules

Guallar

Jovani

2020

Journal of Avian Biology

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Passerine moult shows two well-known although intriguing characteristics: 1) a varying subset of wing feathers are retained during certain moult episodes, and 2) the identity of the replaced feathers is not random. However, the rules that underlie these moult features are largely unknown. Non-randomness could arise under time and energy constraints if feathers differed in their importance, such that they could be ordered following a hypothetical moult rank. This rule predicts a nested relationship among wing-feather moult phenotypes, where phenotypes of smaller extent would consist of subsets of the wing feathers replaced in phenotypes of larger extent. Here, we analysed a dataset of 3909 preformative and prealternate moult phenotypes from 434 Holarctic and Neotropical passerine species. We found that passerine wing-feather moult was nested (nodf = 84.31). However, systematic imperfections in the nestedness pattern led us to test whether the existence of different feather moult ranks may increase nestedness in homogeneous subsets of moult phenotypes. We tested this hypothesis between moult episodes and found that nestedness increased for the preformative moult (nodf = 90.99) and decreased for the prealternate moult (nodf = 67.28). We further analysed the adaptive meaning of different moult ranks associated with feather mass, feather exposure and feather contribution to flight. Overall, these three feather traits explained 53.74% of the variation in the priority of wing-feather replacement, with exposure having a stronger explanatory power than the other two traits. Our findings provide a first model to interpret variation of wing-feather moult phenotypes in passerines, and outlines the relevance of season for passerine moult, suggesting a dynamic link between moult expression and plumage requirements.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moult nestedness and its imperfections: insights to unravel the nature of passerine wing‐feather moult rules

Guallar

Jovani

2020

Journal of Avian Biology

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“…As a result, the growth of poor quality feathers by juveniles takes place only if they are later replaced by durable, higher quality feathers after fledging 30,31 . Several internal and external factors, such as solar exposure, climate, migration distance, body size, plumage coloration and sexual dichromatism level (indicative of sexual selection level), hatching date and environmental conditions related to geographic distribution, are known to influence the extent of wing feather molt in the early stage of a bird's life 4,21,29,30,[50][51][52][53][54][55] . This is presumably due to their effects on the time available for this process to take place 30,51 , as well as their influence on the need to undertake an extensively molt 29 .…”

Section: Phylogenetic Logistic Regression With Body Mass As Independent Factormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, juveniles fledge with fresh plumage that may enable them to forgo replacing part or all of their plumage during their first year of life 21 . Due to these factors, geographic distribution and body size could critically shape the evolution of molt in the early stages of life 29 , 30 . Empirical evidence 30 , 31 suggest that two strategies have evolved to attain durable wings’ flight-feathers in first-year birds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body mass and geographic distribution determined the evolution of the wing flight-feather molt strategy in the Neornithes lineage

Kiat

Slavenko

Sapir

2021

Sci Rep

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The evolutionary history of many organisms is characterized by major changes in morphology and distribution. Specifically, alterations of body mass and geographic distribution may profoundly influence organismal life-history traits. Here, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of flight-feather molt strategy using data from 1,808 Neornithes species. Our analysis suggests that the ancestral molt strategy of first-year birds was partial or entirely absent, and that complete wing flight-feather molt in first-year birds first evolved in the late Eocene and Oligocene (25–40 Ma), at least 30 Myr after birds first evolved. Complete flight-feather molt occurred mainly at equatorial latitudes and in relatively low body mass species, following a diversification of body mass within the lineage. We conclude that both body mass and geographic distribution shaped the evolution of molt strategies and propose that the evolutionary transition towards complete juvenile molt in the Neornithes is a novel, relatively late adaptation.

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“…Different bird species show a variety of molt patterns (Stresemann andStresemann 1966, Pyle 1997). Some hypotheses have been put forward that link the way birds use their feathers to the evolution of these molt patterns (Howell 2010, Pyle and Kayhart 2010, Wolfe 2011) and some studies have linked evolutionary process to patterns of molt (Bridge et al 2007, Delhey et al 2020, Guallar and Figuerola 2016, Holmgren and Hedentröm 1995, Svensson and Hedenström 1999, as well as ecological processes influencing molt (Kiat et al 2020a, Kiat and Izhaki 2020, Terrill 2018, Wolfe et al 2021). However, our understanding of the evolution of molt patterns in birds remains nascent compared to other life history characteristics of birds.…”

Section: Molt Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Multifunctionality of Feathers and the Evolution of BIrds

Terrill¹,

Shultz²

2021

Preprint

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The ability feathers have to perform many functions simultaneously and at different times is integral to the evolutionary history of all birds. Many studies focus on single functions of feathers; but any given feather performs many functions over its lifetime. Here, we review the known functions of feathers and discuss the interactions of these functions with avian evolution. Recent years have seen an increase in research on the evolution and development of feather functions because of an increase in high quality fossils with preserved feathers, new tools for understanding genetic mechanisms of feather development, new tools for measuring and analyzing feather color, availability of phylogenies and phylogenetic comparative methods, and an increase in interest in feather molt. Here, we aim to review how feather functions interact with avian evolution, with a focus on recent technological and discovery-based advances. By synthesizing research into feather functions over hierarchical scales, we aim to provide a broad context for how the adaptability and multifunctionality of feathers have allowed birds to diversify into the astounding array of environments and life-history strategies. Overall, we suggest research into avian evolution that involves feather function in any way should consider all aspects of a feathers’ functionality, including multiple functions, molt patterns, ecological/mechanical interactions, and feather wear over time. With this more holistic view, processes such as the evolution of avian coloration and flight can be understood in a broader and more nuanced context.

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Partial or complete? The evolution of post‐juvenile moult strategies in passerine birds

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Cited by 16 publications

References 119 publications

Moult nestedness and its imperfections: insights to unravel the nature of passerine wing‐feather moult rules

Moult nestedness and its imperfections: insights to unravel the nature of passerine wing‐feather moult rules

Body mass and geographic distribution determined the evolution of the wing flight-feather molt strategy in the Neornithes lineage

On the Multifunctionality of Feathers and the Evolution of BIrds

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