Soil and preen waxes influence the expression of carotenoid-based plumage coloration

Surmacki, Adrian; Nowakowski, Jarosław

doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0263-x

Cited by 51 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Second, birds inhabiting air-polluted areas may have to invest more heavily in preening. In conclusion, even if feather colours are often viewed as a fixed trait following moult, our results conjointly with studies on other bird species (Örnborg et al 2002;Moyer et al 2003;Zampiga et al 2004;Delhey et al 2006) suggest that plumage colourations can change, and soiling seems to be an important factor to affect this change (Montgomerie 2006a;Surmacki & Nowakowski 2007;Lenouvel et al 2009). Much work remains to determine the role of air pollution and aerosol particles in altering plumage colourations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…A study on budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, in which dirtiness was artificially induced, also showed that preening is effective in removing soiling from plumage and increasing its colour reflectance, and that this effect was particularly pronounced in the UV range (Zampiga et al 2004). The effect of soiling on structural, short wavelength feather colours, however, is not general, as other studies, which employed different methodological approaches, obtained contrasting results (Montgomerie 2006a;Surmacki & Nowakowski 2007;Lenouvel et al 2009). One of these studies assessed the effect of dirt accumulation on the feathers of bird museum specimens (Montgomerie 2006a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Feather colours, however, can change after moult, and dirt accumulation has been suggested to contribute to variation in colouration (e.g. Örnborg et al 2002;Zampiga et al 2004;Surmacki & Nowakowski 2007). So, another cost associated with the production of the plumage traits could be their maintenance in good condition (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comparing washed and unwashed specimens, Montgomerie found that the accumulation of dirt on the feathers causes a stronger reduction of reflectance in the human-visible part of the reflectance spectra than in the shorter, ultraviolet wavelengths. A study in which soil and preen wax were removed from the feathers revealed that both these two components influenced plumage colouration, but whether soiling alone affects plumage reflectance in the UV range was not directly assessed (Surmacki & Nowakowski 2007). Lastly, Lenouvel and collaborators (2009) soiled with wheat flour the feathers of male canaries, Serinus canaria.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The possible effect of dirtiness on structurally based ultraviolet plumage

Griggio

Serra

Pilastro

2011

Italian Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To cite this article: M. Griggio , L. Serra & A. Pilastro (2011) The possible effect of dirtiness on structurally based ultraviolet plumage, Italian Journal of Zoology, 78:1, 90-95, DOI: 10.1080/11250003.2010 AbstractColourful feathers are important traits in female mate choice in birds because the colour properties of the feathers are often correlated with individual condition during moult. Feather colour can change after moult, and dirt accumulation has been suggested to contribute to this variation. However, we still know little about the influence of dirt on feather colour change, possibly because it is difficult to experimentally manipulate the level of feather dirtiness. We investigated whether reflectance properties of feathers exposed to naturally deposited soil (atmospheric particle deposition such as dust, pollution and smoke) differ from feathers for which this contact was prevented. To achieve this, we compared the spectral colour of throat-breast feathers of European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, kept in the open air (dirty group) with those preserved within a plastic envelope (clean group). Before treatment and three and six weeks after the beginning of the treatment we measured the plumage reflectance of the two groups of feathers. While clean feathers did not change their reflectance spectra, the dirty group showed a reduced reflectance along the entire spectrum (300-700 nm). The reduction in reflectance was particularly pronounced in the UV range (300-400 nm). These preliminary results are consistent with the idea that feather colours are not static signals but are plastic traits. However, much work remains to determine the role of soil and air pollution in altering plumage colouration.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The possible effect of dirtiness on structurally based ultraviolet plumage

Griggio

Serra

Pilastro

2011

Italian Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By measuring plumage reflectance before and after cleaning feathers with a mild detergent, he revealed that dirt lowered spectral reflectance, mainly in the range between 400 and 700 nm. In a similar study, Surmacki and Nowakowski (2007) cleaned the yellow (carotenoid-based) feathers of great tits, Parus major, with chloroform-methanol mixture which increased feather brightness and shifted hues towards longer wavelengths. Unfortunately, both of these studies did not separate the relative importance of soling and preen waxes on color change, because due to the cleaning method, both agents were removed simultaneously.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Natural soiling has a small effect on structurally-based plumage coloration

Surmacki

2011

Animal Biol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plumage coloration is an important trait used by birds in mate choice decisions and is often an indicator of social status. The two main types of color-producing mechanisms in feathers are pigment deposition (pigmentary coloration) or the coherent scattering of light reflected from keratin microstructure (structural coloration). External factors acting on the feather surface are also hypothesized to affect structural coloration. Because preening is an energy and time demanding behavior, color variation caused by soiling deposition is generally assumed to strengthen the condition signaling function of plumage coloration. To date, studies using artificial soiling have confirmed those hypotheses. However, information about how natural soiling affects plumage color are still scarce. In this paper, I investigated the effect of natural soiling on structurally-based feather color of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus. As a method, I applied mechanical cleaning that functionally mimicked natural preening. Removal of soiling caused a decrease of ultraviolet (UV) chroma in males and decrease in brightness in females. According to visual contrast modeling, only changes in brightness should be perceived by birds. Further, more efficient chemical cleaning resulted in a significant increase in brightness in both sexes, presumably due to preen wax removal. These results suggest that the impact of natural feather soiling is not likely to modify structural coloration signaling. One possible explanation is that, under natural conditions, the amount of soil accumulating on feathers is too small to affect coloration.

show abstract

The color of greater flamingo feathers fades when no cosmetics are applied

Chiale

Rendón

Labaude

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Greater flamingos use cosmetic coloration by spreading uropygial secretions pigmented with carotenoids over their feathers, which makes the plumage redder.Because flamingos inhabit open environments that receive direct solar radiation during daytime, and carotenoids bleach when exposed to solar radiation, we expected that the plumage color would fade if there is no maintenance for cosmetic purposes.Here, we show that the concentrations of pigments inside feathers and on the surface of feathers were correlated, as well as that there was a correlation between the concentrations of pigments in the uropygial secretions and on the surface of feathers. There was fading in color (becoming less red) in feathers that received direct solar radiation when there was no plumage maintenance, but not so in others maintained in darkness. When we controlled for the initial color of feathers, the feathers of those individuals with higher concentration of pigments on the feather surfaces were those that lost less coloration after experimental exposure of feathers to sunny conditions. These results indicate that exposure to sunlight is correlated with the fading of feather color, which suggests that individuals need to regularly apply makeup to be more colorful. These results also reinforce the view that these birds use cosmetic coloration as a signal amplifier of plumage color. This may be important in species using highly variable habitats, such as wetlands, since the conditions experienced when molting may differ from those when the signal should be functional, usually months after molting.

show abstract

Soil and preen waxes influence the expression of carotenoid-based plumage coloration

Cited by 51 publications

References 30 publications

The possible effect of dirtiness on structurally based ultraviolet plumage

The possible effect of dirtiness on structurally based ultraviolet plumage

Natural soiling has a small effect on structurally-based plumage coloration

The color of greater flamingo feathers fades when no cosmetics are applied

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About