Eye Color, Size and Quick-versus-Deliberate Behavior of Birds

Worthy, Morgan

doi:10.2466/pms.1978.47.1.60

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Eye colour and foraging behaviour Worthy (1978Worthy ( , 1991Worthy ( , 1997 proposed that bird eye colour can be broadly correlated with foraging behaviour, stating that ambush predators tend to be light-eyed and 'pursuit' predators dark-eyed. Under this model, the largely light-eyed herons and the wholly dark-eyed swifts would represent opposite ends of an ecological and eye colour continuum.…”

Section: Eye Colour and Camouflagementioning

confidence: 99%

The mechanistic, genetic and evolutionary causes of bird eye colour variation

Corbett,

Brumfield,

Faircloth

2023

Ibis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Birds display a rainbow of eye colours, but this trait has been little studied compared with plumage coloration. Avian eye colour variation occurs at all phylogenetic scales: it can be conserved throughout whole families or vary within one species, yet the evolutionary importance of this eye colour variation is under‐studied. Here, we summarize knowledge of the causes of eye colour variation at three primary levels: mechanistic, genetic and evolutionary. Mechanistically, we show that avian iris pigments include melanin and carotenoids, which also play major roles in plumage colour, as well as purines and pteridines, which are often found as pigments in non‐avian taxa. Genetically, we survey classical breeding studies and recent genomic work on domestic birds that have identified potential ‘eye colour genes’, including one associated with pteridine pigmentation in pigeons. Finally, from an evolutionary standpoint, we present and discuss several hypotheses explaining the adaptive significance of eye colour variation. Many of these hypotheses suggest that bird eye colour plays an important role in intraspecific signalling, particularly as an indicator of age or mate quality, although the importance of eye colour may differ between species and few evolutionary hypotheses have been directly tested. We suggest that future studies of avian eye colour should consider all three levels, including broad‐scale iris pigment analyses across bird species, genome sequencing studies to identify loci associated with eye colour variation, and behavioural experiments and comparative phylogenetic analyses to test adaptive hypotheses. By examining these proximate and ultimate causes of eye colour variation in birds, we hope that our review will encourage future research to understand the ecological and evolutionary significance of this striking avian trait.

show abstract

Section: Eye Colour and Camouflagementioning

confidence: 99%

The mechanistic, genetic and evolutionary causes of bird eye colour variation

Corbett,

Brumfield,

Faircloth

2023

Ibis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a series of papers and books, Worthy (1978Worthy ( , 1991Worthy ( , 1997 put forward a hypothesis that bird eye color can be broadly correlated with foraging behavior, stating that there is a tendency for ambush predators to be light-eyed and "pursuit" predators to be dark-eyed. Under this model, the largely light-eyed herons and the wholly dark-eyed swifts would represent opposite ends of an ecological and eye color continuum.…”

Section: Eye Color and Foraging Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under this model, the largely light-eyed herons and the wholly dark-eyed swifts would represent opposite ends of an ecological and eye color continuum. Worthy (1978Worthy ( , 1991Worthy ( , 1997) also proposed multiple possible mechanisms explaining this correlation, including those relating to visual clarity and pleiotropic effects. The data supporting this supposition are interesting, but the hypothesis has not been tested in a comparative framework, and attempts to generalize the principle broadly across animals, including humans, have rightly invited skepticism (Savalli 1995, Elias et al 2008.…”

Section: Eye Color and Foraging Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data supporting this supposition are interesting, but the hypothesis has not been tested in a comparative framework, and attempts to generalize the principle broadly across animals, including humans, have rightly invited skepticism (Savalli 1995, Elias et al 2008. Further studies are needed to disentangle whether a genuine relationship exists between eye color and foraging behavior, or whether the putative correlation occurs because of confounding variables including body size (Worthy 1978), light environment, and phylogeny.…”

Section: Eye Color and Foraging Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Bird Eye Color: A Rainbow of Variation, a Spectrum of Explanations

Corbett¹,

Brumfield²,

Faircloth³

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Birds display a rainbow of eye colors, but this trait has received relatively little study compared to plumage coloration. Avian eye color variation occurs at all phylogenetic scales: it can be conserved throughout whole families or vary within a single species, yet the evolutionary importance of eye color variation within species and across the avian phylogeny is also understudied. Here, we provide an overview of eye color variation in birds, summarizing the state of knowledge about its causes at three primary levels: mechanistic, genetic, and evolutionary. Mechanistically, we show that common avian iris pigments include melanin and carotenoids, which also play major roles in plumage color, as well as purines and pteridines, which are found as pigments primarily in non-avian taxa. Genetically, we examine known associations between genes and eye color, primarily identified from classical breeding studies and recent genomic work in domesticated species. Finally, from an evolutionary standpoint, we present and discuss several hypotheses explaining the adaptive significance of eye color variation. Many of these suggest bird eye color plays an important role in intraspecific signaling, particularly as an indicator of age or mate quality, although the importance of eye color may differ between species and few evolutionary hypotheses have been directly tested. We suggest that future studies of avian eye color should focus on all three levels, including broad-scale iris pigment analyses across bird species, genome sequencing studies to identify loci associated with eye color variation, and behavioral experiments and comparative phylogenetic analyses to test adaptive hypotheses. By examining these proximate and ultimate causes of eye color variation in birds, we hope that our review will spur future research to understand the ecological and evolutionary significance of this striking avian trait.

show abstract

Iris pigmentation and behavioral inhibition

Rosenberg

Kagan

1987

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two independent investigations of the association between the temperamental dimensions of inhibition and lack of inhibition to the unfamiliar, on the one hand, and the degree of pigmentation of the iris, on the other, revealed a statistically significant relation in Caucasian children between behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar and blue irises and uninhibited behavior and brown irises. Several biochemical interpretations of this association were discussed and it was suggested that these behavioral styles might be influenced by biological factors that are partially marked by eye color in Caucasian populations.

show abstract

Eye Color, Size and Quick-versus-Deliberate Behavior of Birds

Cited by 9 publications

References 1 publication

The mechanistic, genetic and evolutionary causes of bird eye colour variation

The mechanistic, genetic and evolutionary causes of bird eye colour variation

Bird Eye Color: A Rainbow of Variation, a Spectrum of Explanations

Iris pigmentation and behavioral inhibition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About