Ecology and breeding biology of a tropical bird, the Lovely Fairy-Wren (<i>Malurus amabilis</i>)

Leitão, Ana V.; Hall, Michelle L.; Venables, Brian L.; Mulder, Raoul A.

doi:10.1080/01584197.2018.1498745

Cited by 18 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Seasonal plumage colours have been lost in two species, the lovely and white‐shouldered fairy‐wrens ( M. amabilis and M. alboscapulatus; Fan et al ). Both species have high annual survival rates (Leitão et al ) and live in the tropics, where predation risk on fairy‐wrens appears to be relatively low (Cain et al ) and where reduced seasonality may favour less well‐defined breeding schedules (Leitão et al ). In purple‐crowned fairy‐wrens ( M. coronatus ), seasonal plumage colours appear to be in the process of being lost due to a lack of strong sexual selection (Kingma et al ; Fan et al ) and a lack of a defined breeding season, as the species can breed year‐round in response to rainfall (Hidalgo Aranzamendi et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary drivers of seasonal plumage colours: colour change by moult correlates with sexual selection, predation risk and seasonality across passerines

et al. 2019

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Some birds undergo seasonal colour change by moulting twice each year, typically alternating between a cryptic, non‐breeding plumage and a conspicuous, breeding plumage (‘seasonal plumage colours’). We test for potential drivers of the evolution of seasonal plumage colours in all passerines (N = 5901 species, c. 60% of all birds). Seasonal plumage colours are uncommon, having appeared on multiple occasions but more frequently lost during evolution. The trait is more common in small, ground‐foraging species with polygynous mating systems, no paternal care and strong sexual dichromatism, suggesting it evolved under strong sexual selection and high predation risk. Seasonal plumage colours are also more common in species predicted to have seasonal breeding schedules, such as migratory birds and those living in seasonal climates. We propose that seasonal plumage colours have evolved to resolve a trade‐off between the effects of natural and sexual selection on colouration, especially in seasonal environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary drivers of seasonal plumage colours: colour change by moult correlates with sexual selection, predation risk and seasonality across passerines

et al. 2019

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“…Parallel studies of mating systems and extragroup paternity in other Malurus species have revealed considerable diversity, supporting the idea that evolutionary pathways can be traced through phylogenetically‐based comparative analysis (Brouwer et al, ; Buchanan & Cockburn, ). Other Malurus species have also been the focus of studies on breeding biology (Karubian, ; Leitão, Hall, Venables, & Mulder, ; Varian‐Ramos & Webster, ), song and vocalizations (Dowling & Webster, ; Greig & Pruett‐Jones, ; Yandell, Hochachka, Pruett‐Jones, Webster, & Greig, ), plumage and ornamentation (Karubian, ; Lindsay, Webster, & Schwabl, ), ecology and conservation (Driskell et al, ; Murphy, Legge, Heathcote, & Mulder, ; Skroblin, Lanfear, Cockburn, & Legge, ), and phylogeography (Baldassarre, White, Karubian, & Webster, ; Kearns, Joseph, Edwards, & Double, ; McLean, Toon, Schmidt, Joseph, & Hughes, ). Providing a high‐quality, annotated genome assembly sets up the foundation to understand the genetic mechanisms underlying some of the behaviours and natural history traits of the superb fairy‐wren and allies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome of an iconic Australian bird: High‐quality assembly and linkage map of the superb fairy‐wren (Malurus cyaneus)

Peñalba

Deng

Joseph

et al. 2020

Molecular Ecology Resources

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The superb fairy‐wren, Malurus cyaneus, is one of the most iconic Australian passerine species. This species belongs to an endemic Australasian clade, Meliphagides, which diversified early in the evolution of the oscine passerines. Today, the oscine passerines comprise almost half of all avian species diversity. Despite the rapid increase of available bird genome assemblies, this part of the avian tree has not yet been represented by a high‐quality reference. To rectify that, we present the first high‐quality genome assembly of a Meliphagides representative: the superb fairy‐wren. We combined Illumina shotgun and mate‐pair sequences, PacBio long‐reads, and a genetic linkage map from an intensively sampled pedigree of a wild population to generate this genome assembly. Of the final assembled 1.07‐Gb genome, 975 Mb (90.4%) was anchored onto 25 pseudochromosomes resulting in a final superscaffold N50 of 68.11 Mb. This high‐quality bird genome assembly is one of only a handful which is also accompanied by a genetic map and recombination landscape. In comparison to other pedigree‐based bird genetic maps, we find that the fairy‐wren genetic map more closely resembles those of Taeniopygia guttata and Parus major maps, unlike the Ficedula albicollis map which more closely resembles that of Gallus gallus. Lastly, we also provide a predictive gene and repeat annotation of the genome assembly. This new high‐quality, annotated genome assembly will be an invaluable resource not only regarding the superb fairy‐wren species and relatives but also broadly across the avian tree by providing a novel reference point for comparative genomic analyses.

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“…We found that lovely fairy-wrens had high rates of EPP despite low frequencies of 476 extra-pair courtship displays, high male care, and low number of helpers compared to 477 other Malurus (Leitão et al, 2019b). Previous comparative work in the Maluridae 478 family (which did not include the lovely fairy-wren) showed that multiple factors 479 predicted the variation of EPP rates, including inbreeding avoidance, the number of 480 helpers, male care, and male density (Brouwer et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussion 366mentioning

confidence: 75%

“…However, in lovely fairy-wrens, males (and females) retain their bright plumage year-round 76 after reaching maturity, and do not undergo a seasonal moult (Leitão et al, 2019b) so other 77 traits, such as plumage colour, are likely to be implicated as sexual signals. The species' 78 mating system was unknown before the present study, but fairy-wrens (Malurus) exhibit 79 extremely high but variable rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP), ranging across species from 80 4.4% to 76% of offspring (Cockburn et al, 2013;Kingma et al, 2009;Mulder et al, 1994;81 Rowe and Pruett- Jones, 2013).…”

Section: Introduction 31mentioning

confidence: 99%

Female and male plumage colour is linked to parental quality, pairing and extra-pair mating in a tropical passerine

Leitão

Hall

Mulder

2020

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Ecology and breeding biology of a tropical bird, the Lovely Fairy-Wren (Malurus amabilis)

Cited by 18 publications

References 45 publications

Evolutionary drivers of seasonal plumage colours: colour change by moult correlates with sexual selection, predation risk and seasonality across passerines

Evolutionary drivers of seasonal plumage colours: colour change by moult correlates with sexual selection, predation risk and seasonality across passerines

Genome of an iconic Australian bird: High‐quality assembly and linkage map of the superb fairy‐wren (Malurus cyaneus)

Female and male plumage colour is linked to parental quality, pairing and extra-pair mating in a tropical passerine

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