Phenotypic plasticity in a conspicuous female plumage trait: information content and mating patterns

Hegyi, Gergely; Rosivall, Balázs; Szöllősi, Eszter; Hargitai, Rita; Eens, Marcel; Török, János

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.08.009

Cited by 39 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…We have also performed the same analyses with changes in reproductive parameters as dependent variables, and the original plumage trait value was included as a covariate instead of the plumage change, in order to verify that the relationships found between changes in reproductive parameters and plumage traits were not caused by the original trait value. The change in plumage traits could indeed simply reflect the trait itself if the magnitude of the change in plumage trait is correlated with the absolute initial trait value (Hegyi et al, 2008). However, original trait value did not explain changes in reproductive parameters (see Results).…”

Section: Covariation Between Changes In Melanin-based Traits and Reprmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Therefore, age-related changes in one phenotypic trait may be associated with similar changes in life-history traits if expression relies on the same regulatory factors. Few studies have investigated the fluctuations in ornamental traits with age, and whether these fluctuations are genetically or environmentally controlled (Badyaev & Duckworth, 2003;Hegyi et al, 2006;Hegyi et al, 2008). Analysing the lifetime patterns of ornament expression and the covariation between ornamental changes and changes in reproductive traits would help us to understand the potential adaptive value of ornaments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Age-related change in melanin-based coloration of Barn owls (Tyto alba): females that become more female-like and males that become more male-like perform better

Dreiss

Roulin

2010

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Ornament expression fluctuates with age in many organisms. Whether these changes are adaptively plastic is poorly known. In order to understand the ultimate function of melanin-based ornaments, we studied their within-individual fluctuations and their covariation with fitness-related traits. In barn owls (Tyto alba), individuals vary from reddish-brown pheomelanic to white, and from immaculate to marked with black eumelanic spots, with males being less reddish and less spotted than females. During the first molt, both sexes became less pheomelanic, females displayed larger spots and males fewer spots, but the extent of these changes was not associated with reproduction. At subsequent molts, intra-individual changes in melanin-based traits covaried with simultaneous reproduction changes. Adult females bred earlier in the season and laid larger eggs when they became scattered with larger spots, whereas adults of both sexes produced larger broods when they became whiter. These results suggest that the production of melanin pigments and fitness-related life-history traits are concomitantly regulated in a sex-specific way.

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Section: Covariation Between Changes In Melanin-based Traits and Reprmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Age-related change in melanin-based coloration of Barn owls (Tyto alba): females that become more female-like and males that become more male-like perform better

Dreiss

Roulin

2010

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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“…Recently, it has been shown that female signalling is positively associated with age and/or experience (Potti, 1993;Cuervo et al, 1996;Tella et al, 1997;Komdeur et al, 2005;Bortolotti et al, 2006;Hegyi et al, 2008b), survival prospects (Hõrak et al, 2001;Roulin & Altwegg, 2007), body size (Amundsen, Forsgren & Hansen, 1997), body condition (Velando, Lessels & Marquez, 2001;Bortolotti et al, 2006), breeding performance and/or immunocompetence (Hanssen, Folstad & Erikstad, 2006;Polo & Veiga, 2006;Potti & Merino, 1996;Morales et al, 2007;Doutrelant et al, 2008), predator avoidance (Avilés, Solís & Valencia, 2008), within-clutch variation in yolk androgens (Gil, Lacroix & Potti, 2006), egg size (Szigeti et al, 2007), offspring quality (Roulin et al, 2000(Roulin et al, , 2001bSiefferman & Hill, 2005), or nestling feeding rate (Jawor et al, 2004), all supporting the idea that female ornamentation may indicate individual quality. In addition, observational and experimental studies have reported assortative mating with respect to individual ornamentation (Roulin, 1999;Griggio et al, 2005;Bortolotti et al, 2006;Hegyi et al, 2007b, but see also Bortolotti et al, 2008) and that more ornamented females are more frequently courted (Torres & Velando, 2005), are selected as primary females in polygynous mating systems (Hegyi et al, 2007a), and obtain more and higher quality sperm from high-quality males during the mating process (Cornwallis & Birkhead, 2007a than less conspicuous females.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-annual variation and information content of melanin-based coloration in female Eurasian kestrels

Vergara

Fargallo

Martínez‐Padilla

et al. 2009

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Competition for resources (e.g. mates or food) is the main evolutionary explanation for conspicuous ornaments in males, although this idea is not generalized in females. Whether or not the expression of melanic coloration is dependent on environmental conditions remains controversial. We studied three different melanin-based female traits in the Eurasian kestrel Falco tinnunculus, a sexually dichromatic species, for a period of 10 years: grey coloration in rump and tail and the width of the black subterminal tail band. We analysed these traits for within-individual variation among years, as well as their possible link with indices of quality, such as age, body size, and breeding performance. The results obtained demonstrate that female melanin-based coloration increased from yearlings to adults. In addition, the expression of female rump coloration covaried positively with the environmental conditions in the previous year (i.e. measured as clutch size at population level). Finally, we found a positive correlation between grey rump coloration and clutch size. These results suggest that the expression of rump coloration, a melanin-based trait, is environmentally constrained, and we propose that this character could function as an indicator of individual quality in female Eurasian kestrels.

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“…They may also be expected to respond to previous breeding stress by decreasing in size after a stringent bout of parental care (Hanssen et al 2006). Assuming that wing bars represent genetic quality, their size would be predicted to be positively correlated with breeding success (Török et al 2003;Hegyi et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do female ornaments indicate quality in eider ducks?

2009

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The fitness consequences of female ornamentation remain little studied and the results are often contradictory. Female ornamentation may be an artefact of a genetic correlation with male ornamentation, but this possibility can be disregarded if the ornament only occurs in females. Female-specific white wing bars in eiders (Somateria mollissima) have been suggested to indicate individual quality, and we studied size variation in this trait in relation to key fitness components and quality attributes. We found that clutch size, body condition, female age, hatching date and success were unrelated to female ornament size; ornament size was explained by its size in the previous year. In contrast, good body condition was associated with hatching success. These results suggest that the breadth of the white wing bars does not indicate individual quality in our study population.

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Phenotypic plasticity in a conspicuous female plumage trait: information content and mating patterns

Cited by 39 publications

References 93 publications

Age-related change in melanin-based coloration of Barn owls (Tyto alba): females that become more female-like and males that become more male-like perform better

Age-related change in melanin-based coloration of Barn owls (Tyto alba): females that become more female-like and males that become more male-like perform better

Inter-annual variation and information content of melanin-based coloration in female Eurasian kestrels

Do female ornaments indicate quality in eider ducks?

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