Relationships between territory quality and carotenoid-based plumage colour, cell-mediated immune response, and body mass in Great Tit &lt;I&gt;Parus major&lt;/I&gt; nestlings

Galván, Ismael; Díaz, Leticia; Sanz, Juan José

doi:10.3161/000164509x482722

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Given that we computed mean coloration within each nest, sex‐ratio could hide the interaction between nestlings’ body condition and their coloration. The fact that we did not find a positive correlation at the nest‐level does not rule out the possibility that this correlation could be positive in some cases at an individual level (Galvan et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…We recorded a negative interaction between lightness and PC3 – oak maturity, and a positive interaction between hue and PC1 – tree size. Both correlations are in line with previous findings (Arriero & Fargallo, ; Ferns & Hinsley, ; Galvan et al ., ). We think that the positive effect of PC1 – tree size on hue may be related to a higher availability of carotenoids in all trophic levels in the most structured patches of the forest (Isaksson, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, nestlings’ body condition did not correlate with their own coloration. In line with our results, it has been suggested that nestlings’ body condition and their carotenoid‐based coloration may be determined by different pathways (Hõrak et al ., ; Galvan et al ., ). Also, it is known that great tit nestlings may differ in their coloration in function of sex (Slagsvold & Lifjeld, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been stated that early growth condition determines the structural component of carotenoid-based coloration, while carotenoid availability determines its chromatic aspect (Jacot et al, 2010;Matrková & Remes, 2012). It is possible that nestlings allocated more resources to improve feather quality, compensating for the decrease in carotenoid availability across the season (Galvan, Diaz & Sanz, 2009). Alternatively, an increase in mean temperatures across the season could increase feather quality (Dawson, Lawrie & O'Brien, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to diet, and regardless of the functional meaning of carotenoid-based coloration for nestling passerines (Tschirren, Fitze & Richner, 2005;Galván, Amo & Sanz, 2008), the expression of this coloration has also been broadly related to habitat structure (Arriero & Fargallo, 2006;Galvan, Diaz & Sanz, 2009;Evans & Sheldon, 2012). However, although food quality is considered to be the main factor driving this interaction, food composition delivered to nestlings by parents has not been systematically assessed (Arriero & Fargallo, 2006;Galvan, Diaz & Sanz, 2009). These approaches emphasise population-level trends versus inter-individual variability, and as recent research has stressed (Bolnick et al, 2003), this common axiom may lead to erroneous interpretations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat structure and prey composition generate contrasting effects on carotenoid-based coloration of great titParus majornestlings

Pagani‐Núñez

Uribe

Hernández-Gómez

et al. 2014

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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Carotenoid-based coloration of nestling plumage is generally considered a reliable signal of quality and has consistently been related to habitat structure. The main hypothesis proposed to explain this correlation is that high quality habitats contain high quality food, which in return affects the expression of carotenoid-based plumage. It therefore assumes that, at the population level, the link between habitat structure and food composition is consistent and more relevant than inter-individual differences in foraging ability or parental investment. In addition, it is assumed by default that food and habitat produce concordant effects on nestling coloration. In this work we evaluated habitat structure and prey composition in addition to several measures of parental investment. We investigated their relative effect on carotenoid-based plumage coloration (lightness, chroma and hue) of great tit Parus major nestlings. We found a low correlation between carotenoid-based coloration of nestlings and that of their parents. Nestling coloration, especially lightness and chroma, increased with the intake of more spiders. The time of breeding was positively correlated with lightness and chroma and negatively correlated with hue. Finally, the maturity of oak trees surrounding nest-boxes correlated negatively with lightness, and the size of all tree species surrounding nest-boxes correlated positively with hue of chick plumage. Our findings support the view that habitat structure and prey composition may produce divergent effects on feather pigmentation, and that prey proportions and variables related to parental investment should be assessed when considering carotenoid-based coloration of chicks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Habitat structure and prey composition generate contrasting effects on carotenoid-based coloration of great titParus majornestlings

Pagani‐Núñez

Uribe

Hernández-Gómez

et al. 2014

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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Ultraviolet-blue plumage colouration can be perceived as an indicator of fluctuating asymmetry by Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Galván

2010

J Ornithol

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The expression of structural plumage colours (i.e. those generated by feather microstructures) often acts as a signal of quality, but the signal content of these traits remains relatively unknown. However, a hypothesis posits that the production of structural colouration depends on developmental stability because variation in developmental programs can affect the precise feather structures that generate structural colour. Here, I test this hypothesis by exploring the relationship between crown colouration, calculated by using a model of avian visual perception, and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of tail feathers in Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). As predicted, there was a negative correlation between the ultraviolet (UV)-blue reflectance of the crown patch and FA of feathers. There was indirect evidence for a relationship between fledging success and UV-blue colour, but not for a condition dependence of this trait. These results suggest that the signal content of the structural colouration of Blue Tits may be information regarding individuals' developmental stability. As the colour components of the crown colouration were calculated with an avian visual perception model, this indicates that Blue Tits can perceive differences in FA through variation in the expression of structural colour.

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Ecoimmunology

2014

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Relationships between territory quality and carotenoid-based plumage colour, cell-mediated immune response, and body mass in Great Tit <I>Parus major</I> nestlings

Cited by 11 publications

References 67 publications

Habitat structure and prey composition generate contrasting effects on carotenoid-based coloration of great titParus majornestlings

Habitat structure and prey composition generate contrasting effects on carotenoid-based coloration of great titParus majornestlings

Ultraviolet-blue plumage colouration can be perceived as an indicator of fluctuating asymmetry by Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Ecoimmunology

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