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47 results for “bird colouration”
Data and code for Zheng et al. Contrasting coloured ventral wings are a visual collision avoidance signal in birds
<p>This repository contains codes and data for Zheng et al. Contrasting coloured ventral wings are a visual collision avoidance signal in birds. We have three folders, each containing one of the three datasets of contrast scores of avian ventral wings. These include the mean manual contrast ventral wing scores for 1780 species, a subset of 1745 diurnal species, 648 species with high-resolution museum ventral images, and the mean Root-Mean-Square (RMS) contrast ventral wing scores for the same 648 species. We tested the collision avoidance hypothesis for each dataset by assessing the relationships between the contrast scores and ecological traits. We used the Bayesian Generalized Linear Mixed Models in MCMCglmm with considering the phylogenetic relatedness among species and the uncertainties of 100 phylogenetic trees (downloaded in birdtree.org). We included body mass, flock size, coloniality (colonial vs. non-colonial breeding species), activity time (nocturnal vs. diurnal), the number of sympatric predators, and the interaction between coloniality and body mass as the predictors. In each folder, we included four files, including an R source file, a dataset containing the contrast scores and the ecological traits of the corresponding species, and a tree file containing 100 randomly sampled phylogenetic trees among these species. See the Methods of the paper for detail. </p>
Data from: Why there are so many structurally coloured bird species in the tropics?
<p>Several ecogeographical "rules" have been proposed to explain colour variation at broad spatial and phylogenetic scales, but these rarely consider whether colours are based on pigments or structural colours. However, mechanism can have profound effects on the function and evolution of colours. Here, we combine geographic information, climate data, and colour mechanism at broad phylogenetic (9409 species) and spatial scales (global) to determine how transitions between pigmentary and structural colours influence speciation dynamics and range distributions in birds. Among structurally coloured species, we find that rapid dispersal into tropical regions drove the accumulation of iridescent species, whereas the build-up of non-iridescent species in the tropics was driven by a combination of dispersal and faster <em>in situ</em> evolution in the tropics. These results could be explained by pleiotropic links between colouration and dispersal behaviour, or ecological factors influencing colonisation success. These data elucidate geographic patterns of colouration at a global scale and provide testable hypotheses for future work on birds and other animals with structural colours.</p>
Рис. 5. Особенности окраски верха гоΛовы (a), спинных перьев (b) и верха крыΛа (c) у моΛоΑых птиц маΛого (a — сверху, b — сΛева, c — справа) и китайского (a — снизу, b — справа, c — сΛева) воΛчков Fig. 5. Colouration of the upper head (a), dorsal feathers (b), and upper covers (c) in young birds of little (a — above; b — left; c — right) and yellow (a — below; b — right; c — left) bitterns in The first case of breeding of little bittern Ixobrychus minutus and hybrids of I. minutus with I. sinensis in the Russian Far East
Рис. 5. Особенности окраски верха гоΛовы (a), спинных перьев (b) и верха крыΛа (c) у моΛоΑых птиц маΛого (a — сверху, b — сΛева, c — справа) и китайского (a — снизу, b — справа, c — сΛева) воΛчков Fig. 5. Colouration of the upper head (a), dorsal feathers (b), and upper covers (c) in young birds of little (a — above; b — left; c — right) and yellow (a — below; b — right; c — left) bitterns
Transitions between colour mechanisms affect speciation dynamics and range distributions of birds
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Ancient insect vision tuned for flight amongst rocks and plants underpins natural flower colour diversity - rock, mineral, stick, bark, leaf, bird- and insect-flower petal reflectance spectra
<p>Understanding the origins of flower colour signalling to pollinators is fundamental to evolutionary biology and ecology. Flower colour evolves under pressure from visual systems of pollinators, like birds and insects, to establish global signatures among flowers with similar pollinators. However, an understanding of the ancient origins of this relationship remains elusive. Here, we employ computer simulations to generate artificial flower backgrounds assembled from real material sample spectra of rocks, leaves, and dead plant materials, against which to test flowers' visibility to birds and bees. Our results indicate how flower colours differ from their backgrounds in strength, and the distributions of salient reflectance features when perceived by these key pollinators, to reveal the possible origins of their colours. Since Hymenopteran visual perception evolved before flowers, the terrestrial chromatic context for its evolution to facilitate flight and orientation consisted of rocks, leaves, sticks, and bark. Flowers exploited these pre-evolved visual capacities of their visitors, and in response evolved chromatic features to signal to bees, and differently to birds, against a backdrop of other natural materials. Consequently, it appears that today's flower colours may be an evolutionary response to the vision of diurnal pollinators navigating their world millennia prior to the first flowers.</p>
From crypsis to masquerade: ontogeny changes the colour defences of a crab spider hiding as bird droppings
<p><span>Selection imposed by visually-hunting predators has driven the evolution of colour-based antipredator defence strategies such as crypsis, masquerade, mimicry and aposematism. Individuals of many animals are generally considered to rely on a single type of defence strategy, but individuals of some species use multiple colour-based defences. Many animals switch between colour-based defences against visually-hunting predators during ontogeny. However, why this occurs remains poorly understood. </span></p> <p><span>The crab spider<i> Phrynarachne ceylonica</i> is an often-cited example of a bird dropping masquerade. It has recently been demonstrated that <i>P. ceylonica</i> crab spiders gain protection from their predators by being misidentified as bird droppings by their predators. <i>P. ceylonica</i> females show an ontogenetic shift in colour defences: early instars possess a dark and cryptic form, while at later instars and as adults, the spiders resemble bird droppings. We hypothesised that this shift may be driven by differential changes in predation risk of two defence strategies with increasing body size due to ontogeny. </span></p> <p><span>We tested this hypothesis by presenting naïve domestic chicks with 3D printed artificial spiders of two different sizes (small, large) and two colours (dark, bird dropping-like), and determined if larger bird dropping-like spiders are more readily found and attacked than cryptic forms by chicks. We found that small cryptic spiders were more difficult to detect than small bird dropping masquerading spiders, but large cryptic spiders were attacked much more quickly and more frequently than large bird dropping masquerading spiders. </span></p> <p><span>Increasing predation pressure on larger, cryptic spiders during ontogeny suggests that switching to bird dropping masquerade may be a more effective defence as spiders increase in size. We thus conclude that the ontogenetic shift from crypsis to masquerade is adaptive. </span></p>
Urbanization shapes the relation between density and melanin-based colouration in bird communities
<p>Growing urbanization increasingly influences ecosystems worldwide. While the effects of urban conditions within species (through either plastic or evolutionary responses) have been widely studied, their potential influences among species (through environmental filter), especially concerning their colouration, remain poorly known. Here, we investigated whether avian communities breeding inside and outside a major European city (Paris) differ with regards to melanin-based plumage colouration. Melanins are heritable pigments present in many taxa and have a series of unique properties that may allow coping with urban conditions. Using melanic-based colouration as an integrative phenotypic marker, we predicted (i) that the probability of breeding inside the city should increase with the intensity of species melanin-based colouration, (ii) that for species breeding both inside and outside the city, density should increase with the intensity of dark colouration inside the city, but not outside the city, and (iii) that species not breeding inside the city should not exhibit this positive relation between density and colouration. Our results confirmed these predictions. In addition, the density of species not breeding inside the city decreased with the darkness of their plumage. Altogether, these results suggest that bird species experience a balance between costs and benefits of melanin-based colouration shaped by environmental conditions. Both the environmental filtering and the urbanisation-shaped relation between density and colouration evidenced here are likely a general trend, however possibly modulated by additional local environmental conditions. Their importance may even be underestimated given the restricted geographical scale and the overall urbanization rate of the region studied. Further studies involving regions with contrasted environmental conditions should gain insight into the consequences of urbanization worldwide on traits associated with melanin-based colouration.</p>
Wildlife trade targets colourful birds and threatens the aesthetic value of nature
<p>Data to support findings of the paper "Wildlife trade targets colourful birds and threatens the aesthetic value of nature". Code available on <a href="https://github.com/rasenior/colour-trade">GitHub</a> and also the related Zenodo entry at DOI:10.5281/zenodo.6577817</p>
Data from: Regional variation in climate change alters the range-wide distribution of colour polymorphism in a wild bird
<p><span>According to Gloger's rule animal colouration is expected to be darker in wetter and warmer climates. Such environmental clines are predicted to occur in colour polymorphic species and to be shaped by selection if colour morphs represent adaptations to different environments. We studied if the distribution of the colour polymorphic tawny owl (<em>Strix aluco</em>) morphs (a pheomelanic brown and a pale grey) across Europe follow the predictions of Gloger's rule and if there is a temporal change in the geographical patterns corresponding to regional variations in climate change. We used data on tawny owl museum skin specimen collections. First, we investigated long-term spatiotemporal variation in the probability of observing the colour morphs in different climate zones. Second, we studied if the probability of observing the colour morphs was associated with general climatic conditions. Third, we studied if weather fluctuations prior the finding year of an owl explains colour morph in each climate zone. The brown tawny owl morph was historically more common than the grey morph in every studied climate zone. Over time the brown morph has become rarer in the temperate and Mediterranean zone, whereas it has first become rarer but then again more common in the boreal zone. Based on general climatic conditions winter and summer temperature were positively and negatively associated with proportion of brown morph, respectively. Winter precipitation was negatively associated with proportion of brown morph. The effects of five-year means of weather on the probability to observe a brown morph differed between climate zones, indicating region dependent effect of climate change and weather on tawny owl colouration. To conclude, tawny owl colouration does not explicitly follow Gloger's rule, implying a time and space dependent complex system shaped by many factors. We provide novel insights in how the geographic distribution of pheomelanin-based colour polymorphism is changing.</span></p>
Red fruits exhibit lower colour diversity than red flowers as perceived by birds
<ol> <li>Pollination and seed dispersal are crucial processes for plant reproduction, sharing ecological relevance and similarities, yet they have rarely been considered together. Flowers appear to express greater phenotypic diversity than fruits due to multiple confounding factors, which pose challenges for comparative analyses. The colours of flowers and fruits are important visual signal traits in pollination and seed dispersal, evolving under different selective pressures from their respective pollinators and seed dispersers. Birds constitute a unique plant-interacting group that participates in both pollination and seed dispersal events. In this study, we focus on red flowers and red fruits associated with avian mutualists to gain insight into the intrinsic differences between flowers/pollination and fruits/seed dispersal.</li> <li>We conducted comparisons of colouration between 94 red flowers pollinated by birds and 99 red fruits dispersed by birds. The colour diversity was compared in both the spectral space and the avian colour vision spaces. Colour conspicuousness was analyzed using avian colour vision models, as well as bee models. Pigeon colour preference was tested by controlled experiments utilizing red stimuli with and without secondary peaks at short wavelengths.</li> <li>Red fruits had lower colour diversity than red flowers, with redder hues and fewer secondary reflectance peaks. Avian colour vision models illustrated that fruits were more conspicuous than flowers achromatically, but not chromatically. Pigeons did not show preference for red with or without a secondary peak.</li> <li>Although both are red, there are significant differences between flowers and fruits in terms of colour diversity, spectral properties and colour perceptions. As we exclusively considered avian mutualists, these differences cannot be attributed to the differences in interacting animal groups or to their colour vision properties. This implies that the differences in evolutionary history between flowers and fruits may deserve further attention to understand the colour evolution.</li> </ol>
From crypsis to masquerade: ontogeny changes the colour defences of a crab spider hiding as bird droppings
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Red fruits exhibit lower colour diversity than red flowers as perceived by birds
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Ancient insect vision tuned for flight amongst rocks and plants underpins natural flower colour diversity - rock, mineral, stick, bark, leaf, bird- and insect-flower petal reflectance spectra
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Colourful urban birds: Urban-tolerant birds have more elaborate colours, more blue and less brown
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Urbanization shapes the relation between density and melanin-based colouration in bird communities
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Data from: Regional variation in climate change alters the range-wide distribution of colour polymorphism in a wild bird
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Plumage and eggshell colouration covary with the level of sex-specific parental contributions to nest building in birds
<p>Interspecific variation in sex-specific contributions to prenatal parental care, including avian nest building, remain poorly understood. Here, we examined whether the colouration of the parents and of their eggs covary with sex-specific nest building contributions in 521 species of Western Palearctic birds. Having colourful plumages and laying colourful eggs are both costly because of the deposition of pigments (in feathers and eggs) and/or forming costly nanostructural substrates (in feathers), and so it is expected that those costs are traded-off against the costs of nest building. We therefore tested two predictions of this trade-off hypothesis, namely that species in which females alone build nests (1) exhibit sexual plumage dichromatism in that females are less colourful than males and (2) lay less colourful eggs. Using a phylogenetically-informed comparative approach, we found support for the first prediction so that species in which females build nests alone or together with males are more likely to be dichromatic in plumage. Meanwhile, regarding the second prediction, contrary to our expectation, we found that species in which females build nests alone or together with males are more likely to lay colourfully pigmented eggs relative to species in which only males build nests. This suggests that sex differences in plumage colouration and egg colouration covary in a complex manner with female pre-copulatory investment in reproduction at the interspecific level.</p>
Examining the link between relaxed predation and bird colouration on islands
<p>Insular ecosystems share analogous ecological conditions, leading to patterns of convergent evolution that are collectively termed the "island syndrome". In birds, part of this syndrome is a tendency for a duller plumage, possibly as a result of relaxed sexual selection and the reduced need for species recognition. Despite this global pattern, some insular species display a more colourful plumage than their mainland relatives, but why this occurs has remained unexplained. Here, we examine the hypothesis that these cases of increased plumage colouration on islands could arise through a relaxation of predation pressure. We used comparative analyses to investigate whether average insular richness of raptors of suitable mass influences the plumage colourfulness and brightness across 110 pairs of insular endemic species and their closest mainland relatives. As predicted, we find a likely negative relationship between insular colouration and insular predation whilst controlling for mainland predation and colouration, so that species were more likely to become more colourful as the number of insular predators decreased. In contrast, plumage brightness was not influenced by predation pressure. Relaxation from predation, together with drift, might thus be a key mechanism of species phenotypic responses to insularity.</p>
Data from: Shades of red: bird-pollinated flowers target the specific colour discrimination abilities of avian vision
Colour signals are a major cue in putative pollination syndromes. There is evidence that the reflectance spectra of many flowers target the distinctive visual discrimination abilities of hymenopteran insects, but far less is known about bird-pollinated flowers. Birds are hypothesized to exert different selective pressures on floral colour compared with hymenopterans because of differences in their visual systems. We measured the floral reflectance spectra of 206 Australian angiosperm species whose floral visitors are known from direct observation rather than inferred from floral characteristics. We quantified the match between these spectra and the hue discrimination abilities of hymenopteran and avian vision, and analysed these metrics in a phylogenetically informed comparison of flowers in different pollination groups. We show that bird-visited flowers and insect-visited flowers differ significantly from each other in the chromatic cues they provide, and that the differences are concentrated near wavelengths of optimal colour discrimination by whichever class of pollinator visits the flowers. Our results indicate that angiosperms have evolved the spectral signals most likely to reinforce their pollinators' floral constancy (the tendency of individual pollinators to visit flowers of the same species) in communities of similarly coloured floral competitors.
Data from: Roses are red, violets are blue - so how much replication should you do? An assessment of variation in the colour of flowers and birds
After years of qualitative and subjective study, quantitative colour science is now enabling rapid measurement, analysis and comparison of colour traits. However, it has not been determined how many replicates one needs to accurately quantify a species' colours for studies aimed at broad cross-species trait comparison. We address this major methodological knowledge gap. We first quantified and assessed the variance in colour within and between species. Reflectance spectra of flowers from ten plant species and plumage of 20 bird species were measured using a spectrometer, and reflectance (i.e. brightness) and tetrahedral colour-space coordinates were calculated. analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses indicate that there is far more variation in the colours of birds and flowers between species (> 77%) than within species. A Mean Absolute Deviation from the Mean test was applied to indicate the sampling replication required for each species. Tetrahedral coordinates were sampled precisely with only one individual per species. Greater replication was needed to sample reflectance with the desired precision, particularly for darker coloured species. Our findings will allow researchers to allocate their sampling effort in a way that maximises the precision of their colour data collection. The fact that only a few replicates per species are necessary will greatly facilitate broad cross-species comparisons of colour in the future.
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