Ecological and geographical overlap drive plumage evolution and mimicry in woodpeckers

Miller, Eliot T.; Leighton, Gavin M.; Freeman, Benjamin G.; Lees, Alexander Charles; Ligon, Russell A.

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09721-w

Cited by 75 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…In fact, interspecific comparative analyses are crucial to revealing how evolutionary processes operating within species can be generalized across macroevolutionary scales (Meiri 2011, Stoddard et al 2019). The predicted negative correlation between brightness and humidity has been supported in phylogenetic comparative studies of the world’s primates (Kamilar and Bradley 2011), a large clade of Holartic shrews (Stanchak and Santana 2018), the entire Australian avifauna (Delhey 2018), the world’s woodpeckers (Miller et al 2019), and the world’s passerine birds (Delhey et al 2019). The latter two studies also supported the prediction of Bogert’s rule that animals are lighter in warmer regions.…”

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Climate, crypsis and Gloger’s rule in a large family of tropical passerine birds (Furnariidae)

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49Gloger's rule predicts endothermic animals should have darker colors under warm and 50 rainy climates, but empirical studies have typically found that animals tend to be darker under 51 cool and rainy climates. Moreover, Gloger's rule has rarely been tested jointly with the 52 prediction that animals occupying dark habitats should have darker colors to enhance crypsis. 53 We aimed to disentangle the effects of climate and light environments (habitat type) as correlates 54 of plumage brightness in a large Neotropical passerine family. We found that cooler and rainier 55 climates are associated with darker plumage, even after accounting for habitat types, and that 56 darker habitats are associated with darker plumage, even after accounting climate. There was an 57 important interaction between precipitation and temperature, whereby the negative effect of 58 temperature on brightness becomes stronger under cooler temperatures. Climate and light 59 environments have separate but complementary effects in driving macroevolutionary patterns of 60 plumage color variation in birds. 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 4Ecogeographic rules describe correlations between organismal phenotypes and features 72 of their environment. Their repeated observation across taxa and space is prima facie evidence 73 that they are driven by common selective pressures (Mayr 1963, James 1991, VanderWerf 2011. 74Gloger's rule (Gloger 1833, Rensch 1929) is a longstanding ecogeographic rule describing a 75 correlation between the colors of mammals and birds and the climatic conditions they occupy. 76

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Climate, crypsis and Gloger’s rule in a large family of tropical passerine birds (Furnariidae)

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“…Ornamental traits might be used in competitive interactions or in sexual displays. For this reason, 65 many studies have explored how sexual and social interactions may have driven plumage colour evolution 66 (Dale et al, 2015;Dunn, Whittingham, & Pitcher, 2001;Miller et al, 2019;Møller & Birkhead, 1994;67 Owens & Hartley, 1998;Rubenstein & Lovette, 2009). Colour traits can be favoured by sexual selection 68 if the expression of the trait increases the reproductive success of individuals by gaining more access to 69 mates, or by social selection if their expression is critical in the competition for social status or access to 70 resources such as food or territories (West-Eberhard, 1983).…”

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“…Furthermore, the slow-fast life-history continuum is related to 112 extra-pair paternity: species with higher adult mortality rates and larger clutch sizes have higher levels of 113 extra-pair paternity (Arnold & Owens, 2002). 114 6 Different studies have evaluated how abiotic factors affect bird plumage colour evolution and a 115 variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain colour variation both within and across avian taxa 116 (Dale et al, 2015;Miller et al, 2019;Ribot, Berg, Schubert, Endler, & Bennett, 2019). Previous studies 117 showed that achromatic (light-to-dark) variation in birds is related to climate variables such as 118 temperature and precipitation (Delhey, 2017(Delhey, , 2018(Delhey, , 2019Heidrich et al, 2018;Miller et al, 2019;119 Pinkert, Brandl, & Zeuss, 2017;Ribot et al, 2019).…”

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Body size and climate as predictors of plumage colouration and sexual dichromatism in parrots

Carballo

Delhey

Vâlcu

et al. 2020

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17Psittaciformes (parrots, cockatoos and lorikeets) comprise one of the most colourful clades of birds. Their 18 unique pigments and cavity nesting habits are two potential explanations for their colourful character. 19However, plumage colour varies substantially between parrot species and sometimes also between males 20 and females of the same species. Here, we use comparative analyses to evaluate what factors correlate 21 with colour elaboration, colour diversity and sexual dichromatism. Specifically, we test the association 22 between different aspects of parrot colouration and (1) the intensity of sexual selection and social 23 interactions, (2) variation along the slow-fast life-history continuum and (3) climatic variation. We show 24 that larger species and species that live in warm environments display more elaborated colours, yet 25 smaller species have higher levels of sexual dichromatism. Larger parrots tend to have darker and more 26 blue and red colours. Parrots that live in humid environments are darker and redder, whilst species 27 inhabiting warm regions have more blue plumage colours. In general, the variables we considered explain 28 small to moderate amounts of variation in parrot colouration (up to 20%). Our data suggest that sexual 29 selection may be acting more strongly on males in small, short-lived parrots leading to sexual 30 dichromatism. More elaborate colouration in both males and females of the larger, long-lived species with 31 slow tropical life-histories suggests that mutual mate choice and reduced selection for crypsis may be 32 important in these species, as has been shown for passerines. 33 Keywords: plumage colour elaboration, sexual dichromatism, body size, climate, psittaciformes, 34 comparative analyses. 35 36 37 38So far, few studies on plumage colouration have considered multiple variables. Dale et al. (2015) used 131 comparative analyses to explore the effects of multiple traits on plumage colour in passerines. 132Specifically, this study suggests that the evolution of plumage colour and sexual dichromatism are mainly 133 driven by sexual selection and life-history traits, with stronger effects on female than on male colour. 134Both males and females are more colourful in larger species and in species with tropical life histories (i.e. 135 small clutch size, low seasonality habitats), whilst sexual dichromatism was higher in smaller species and 136 in species with male-biased sexual selection. 137Here, we ask what factors affect plumage colouration in parrots.We quantified achromatic and 138 chromatic colour variation among all 398 species of the order Psittaciformes based on colour plates, and 139 computed estimates of colour elaboration, colour diversity and sexual dichromatism. Our study had three 140

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“…There are numerous examples of phenotypic convergence among birds [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], and several authors 66 have proposed hypotheses to explain this phenomenon in the context of mimicry [7,13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

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“…Although convergence in plumage patterns is widespread across birds [7,8,[10][11][12][13][16][17][18][19]21,55], few 280 studies have assessed the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. For example, convergence has been 281 documented in birds which may engage in mimicry including toucans [56], friarbirds and orioles [8], and 282 woodpeckers [13,15]. However, the extent to which alternative hypotheses involving mimicry may 283 account for convergence in these groups is largely unknown.…”

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Plumage convergence resulting from social mimicry in birds? A tetrachromatic view

Meneses-Giorgi

Cadena

2020

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35Social mimicry may lead to convergent evolution when interactions with conspecific and 36 heterospecific individuals drive evolution towards similar phenotypes in different species. Several 37 hypotheses accounting for convergence in communication signals based on mechanisms of social 38 mimicry exist, but evaluations of how similar species are given the visual system of receptors of 39 such signals have been ostensibly missing from tests of such hypotheses. We used plumage 40 reflectance measurements and models of avian color discrimination to evaluate the efficacy of 41 visual deception and therefore the plausibility of mimicry hypotheses accounting for plumage 42 convergence among six species of passerine birds in the flycatcher family (Tyrannidae) with 43 strikingly similar plumage. We rejected interspecific social mimicry hypotheses as an explanation 44 for the similarity between one putative model species and putative mimics because deception seems 45 unlikely given the visual system of passerines. However, plumage similarity was consistent with a 46 role for selective pressures exerted by predators because dorsal coloration of putative model and 47 mimic species was indistinguishable by visually oriented raptors. Experiments and behavioral 48 observations are necessary to better characterize social interactions and to test predictions of 49 alternative mimicry hypotheses proposed to account for convergence. 50 51 Keywords: Convergence, coloration, visual models, social mimicry, interspecific social dominance 52 mimicry, predation. 53 54 55 56Convergent evolution, the process through which two or more distinct lineages independently 57 acquire similar traits, reveals that the paths of evolution are not infinite, but may instead be rather 58 restricted. Convergence may happen rapidly or over the course of millions of years by random drift 59[1] or, more likely, because a given phenotypic trait is repeatedly favored by natural selection in a 60 particular environment [2,3]. Likewise, convergence may also occur via biases in the production of 61 phenotypic variation, such as shared developmental constraints [3][4][5]. One well-studied form of 62 convergent evolution is mimicry, in which one species (the mimic) evolves to resemble another 63 species (the model), often to deceive a third species (the receptor; [6]). 65There are numerous examples of phenotypic convergence among birds [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], and several authors 66 have proposed hypotheses to explain this phenomenon in the context of mimicry [7,13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. 67Among leading ideas suggested to account for phenotypic convergence in birds, the social mimicry 68 hypothesis [18] posits that convergent similarity in traits like coloration and plumage patterns may 69 evolve to promote efficient communication maintaining cohesion both among conspecifics and 70 heterospecifics in mixed-species flocks. A variant of this hypothesis suggests that rather than 71 maintaining cohesion of mixed flocks, social mimicry serves mainl...

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Ecological and geographical overlap drive plumage evolution and mimicry in woodpeckers

Cited by 75 publications

References 68 publications

Climate, crypsis and Gloger’s rule in a large family of tropical passerine birds (Furnariidae)

Climate, crypsis and Gloger’s rule in a large family of tropical passerine birds (Furnariidae)

Body size and climate as predictors of plumage colouration and sexual dichromatism in parrots

Plumage convergence resulting from social mimicry in birds? A tetrachromatic view

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