Intraspecific and interspecific chemosignals in birds: a review

Abstract

This review of chemosignals in birds considers intraspecific oriented chemosignals such as pheromones, interspecific chemosignals, and chemical interactions with parasites. Intraspecific chemosignals are known in some seabirds, especially burrow-or crevice-nesting auklets and petrels that breed in large colonies and are often nocturnal on land. Crested Auklets secrete a distinctive scent closely associated with courtship and important in sexual selection. Individually distinctive odours of petrels allow them to identify their own nest and can have a significant role in social relationships. Substances considered as sex pheromones, diesters of 3-hydroxy fatty acids, are produced by female mallards in their uropygial glands during the mating season. In many species of Charadriiformes during nesting monoester waxes are substituted with mixtures of less volatile diester waxes, less easily detected by mammals searching for nests. The tissues, mainly skin and feather of the New Guinean Passerines of the genus Pitohui and Ifrita contain steroidal alkaloids from the batrachotoxin group probably as a chemical defense. The variation of preen gland secretion in some other Passerines is apparently due to selective pressures caused by ectosymbionts. The auklets' odour, considered as a signal of mate quality, has also a function as ectoparasite repellent: aldehyde constituents of this odour kill and repel ectoparasites. Parasitic nematodes influence grouse digestion and thereby scent emission, making parasitized birds more vulnerable to depredation by mammals. Conversely, scents of some mammalian predators can function as a bird repellent.

Attraction of Culex pipiens to House Sparrows Is Influenced by Host Age but Not Uropygial Gland Secretions

“…Located at the base of the tail, the gland is the source of a diverse mixture of organic compounds [14] that birds spread over their feathers during preening. In addition to waterproofing and conditioning the feathers [15], the secretions may also function in intraspecific and interspecific communication (see reviews [16,17]). The role of the gland in Cx.…”

Smelling Out Predators is Innate in Birds

“…Nowadays, it has been shown that olfaction may be a more important sense in birds than was traditionally believed (Steiger et al 2008). Recent evidence suggests that birds can use odours in several ecological contexts and with different functions (Roper 1999, Hagelin 2007, Hagelin & Jones 2007, Rajchard 2007, 2008, Balthazart & Taziaux 2009, Caro & Balthazart 2010. At the intra-specific level, they are known to emit chemical compounds, which are important in several aspects of avian life histories (Caro & Balthazart 2010).…”

Effects of Chemical and Auditory Cues of Hoopoes (Upupa epops) in Repellence and Attraction of Blood-Feeding Flies

“…Evidence of chemical deterrents of ectoparasites in birds is reduced to a handful of bird species, and it does not include uropygial secretions but compounds produced in the skin or feathers (reviewed by Dumbacher and Pruett-Jones, 1996;Moyer and Clayton, 2004;Rajchard, 2007Rajchard, , 2010Caro et al, 2015). Crested auklets (Aethia cristatella) emit a characteristic citrusy odor, which is associated from specialized wick feathers in the interscapular region.…”