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48 results for “carotenoid coloration”
Anthropogenic noise is associated with telomere length and carotenoid-based coloration in free-living nestling songbirds
<p>Growing evidence suggests that anthropogenic noise has deleterious effects on the behavior and physiology of free-living animals. These effects may be particularly pronounced early in life, when developmental trajectories are sensitive to stressors, yet studies investigating developmental effects of noise exposure in free-living populations remain scarce. To elucidate the effects of noise exposure during development, we examined whether noise exposure is associated with shorter telomeres, duller carotenoid-based coloration and reduced body mass in nestlings of a common urban bird, the great tit (Parus major). We also assessed how the noise environment is related to reproductive success. We obtained long-term measurements of the noise environment, over a ~24-h period, and characterized both the amplitude (measured by LAeq, LA90, LA10, LAmax) and variance in noise levels, since more stochastic, as well as louder, noise regimes might be more likely to induce stress. In our urban population, noise levels varied substantially, with louder, but less variable, noise characteristic of areas adjacent to a highway. Noise levels were also highly repeatable, suggesting that individuals experience consistent differences in noise exposure. The amplitude of noise near nest boxes was associated with shorter telomeres among smaller, but not larger, brood members. In addition, carotenoid chroma and hue were positively associated with variance in average and maximum noise levels, and average reflectance was negatively associated with variance in background noise. Independent of noise, hue was positively related to telomere length. Nestling mass and reproductive success were unaffected by noise exposure. Results indicate that multiple dimensions of the noise environment, or factors associated with the noise environment, could affect the phenotype of developing organisms, that noise exposure, or correlated variables, might have the strongest effects on sensitive groups of individuals, and that carotenoid hue could serve as a signal of early-life telomere length.</p>
Same colors for different functions: implications for the evolution of carotenoid-based ornamentation
<p><span>Sexual ornamentation is often assumed to be costly, allowing honest signaling of individual quality, and carotenoid-based colors were proposed to bear significant costs. If carotenoid-based colors are costly to produce, sexually-selected signals should use more concentrated carotenoid pigments and have more saturated color than non-sexual signals, where honesty-guaranteeing costs are not required. We tested this prediction comparing carotenoid-based colors across canaries, goldfinches and allies, because many of these species </span><span>use </span><span>yellow plumage as sexual ornamentation, but also have yellow rumps that appear to be non-sexual flash marks</span><span>. Only in the breast, but not the rump, was there an asymmetric </span><span>co-distribution of male and female color saturation, with males </span><span>similarly or more saturated than females, indicating evolution of breast color by sexual selection. Yellow was not consistently more saturated in the breast than in the rump, and the co-distribution of rump and breast color saturation indicated that saturated rumps can persist irrespective of breast color. This challenges </span><span>the assumption that carotenoid-based colors bear significant costs. The use of carotenoid coloration as sexual signals in this clade may instead be due to social costs, cost-free index mechanisms for signaling quality, and/or socially-monogamous species evolving low-cost signals to mostly discriminate against low-quality mates.</span></p>
Estimating the distribution of carotenoid coloration in skin and integumentary structures of birds and extinct dinosaurs
<p>Carotenoids are pigments responsible for most bright yellow, red, and orange hues in birds. Their distribution has been investigated in avian plumage, but the evolution of their expression in skin and other integumentary structures has not been approached in detail. Here, we investigate the expression of carotenoid-consistent coloration across tissue types in all extant, non-passerine species (n= 4,022) and archelosaur outgroups in a phylogenetic framework. We collect dietary data for a subset of birds and investigate how dietary carotenoid intake may relate to carotenoid expression in various tissues. We find that carotenoid-consistent expression in skin or non-plumage keratin has a 50 percent probability of being present in the most recent common ancestor of Archosauria. Skin expression has a similar probability at the base of the avian crown clade, but plumage expression is unambiguously absent in that ancestor and shows hundreds of independent gains within non-passerine neognaths, consistent with previous studies. Although our data do not support a strict sequence of tissue expression in non-passerine birds, we find support that expression of carotenoid-consistent color in non-plumage integument structures might evolve in a correlated manner and feathers are rarely the only region of expression. Taxa with diets high in carotenoid content also show expression in more body regions and tissue types. Our results may inform targeted assays for carotenoids in tissues other than feathers, and expectations of these pigments in non-avian dinosaurs. In extinct groups, bare-skin regions and the rhamphotheca, especially in species with diets rich in plants, may express these pigments, which are not expected in feathers or feather homologues.</p>
Data from: Carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration is associated with reduced male care in passerine birds
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Data and code from: A colorful legacy of hybridization in wood-warblers includes frequent sharing of carotenoid genes among species and genera
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Estimating the distribution of carotenoid coloration in skin and integumentary structures of birds and extinct dinosaurs
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Climate underpins continent-wide patterns of carotenoid-based feather color consistent with Gloger’s observations
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Data from: Intraspecific variation in color and carotenoids across environmental extremes in an African Cichlid
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Differential effects of foraging strategies on carotenoid-derived plumage color and individual quality in stripe-tailed yellow finches
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Anthropogenic noise is associated with telomere length and carotenoid-based coloration in free-living nestling songbirds
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The macroevolutionary consequences of the association between frugivory and carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration in passerine birds
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Biochemical and genomic underpinnings of carotenoid color variation across a hybrid zone between South Asian flameback woodpeckers
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Same colors for different functions: implications for the evolution of carotenoid-based ornamentation
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Carotenoid- but not melanin-based plumage coloration is negatively related to metal exposure and proximity to the road in an urban songbird
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Data from: Quantitative genetics of a carotenoid-based color: heritability and persistent natal environmental effects in the great tit
The information content of signals, such as animal coloration, depends on the extent to which variation reflects underlying biological processes. Although animal coloration has received considerable attention, little work has addressed the quantitative genetics of colour variation in natural populations. We investigated the quantitative genetics of a carotenoid-based colour patch - the ventral plumage of mature great tits (Parus major) - in a wild population. Carotenoid-based colours are often suggested to reflect environmental variation in carotenoid availability, but numerous mechanisms could also lead to genetic variation in coloration. Analyses of individuals of known origin showed that while plumage chromaticity ('colour') was moderately heritable, there was no significant heritability to achromaticity ('brightness'). We detected multiple long-lasting effects of natal environment, with hatching date and brood size both negatively related to plumage chromaticity at maturity. Our reflectance measures contrasted in their spatiotemporal sensitivity, with plumage chromaticity exhibiting significant spatial variation while achromatic variation exhibited marked annual variation. Hence, colour variation in this species reflects both genetic and environmental influences on different scales. Our analyses demonstrate the context-dependence of components of colour variation and suggest that colour patches may convey multiple aspects of individual state.
Data from: Nonautosomal genetic variation in carotenoid coloration
Carotenoid-based coloration plays an important role in signaling, is often sexually dimorphic, and is potentially subject to directional and/or sex-specific selection. To understand the evolutionary dynamics of such color traits, it is essential to quantify patterns of inheritance, yet nonautosomal sources of genetic variation are easily overlooked by classical heritability analyses. Carotenoid metabolism has recently been linked to mitochondria, highlighting the potential for color variation to be explained by cytoplasmically inherited factors. In this study, we used quantitative genetic animal models to estimate the importance of mitochondrial and sex chromosome–linked sources of genetic variation in coloration in two songbird populations in which dietary carotenoids are either unmodified (great tit plumage) or metabolized into alternative color forms (zebra finch beak). We found no significant Z-linked genetic variance in great tit plumage coloration, while zebra finch beak coloration exhibited significant W linkage and cytoplasmic inheritance. Our results support cytoplasmic inheritance of color in the zebra finch, a trait based on endogenously metabolized carotenoids, and demonstrate the potential for nonautosomal sources to account for a considerable share of genetic variation in coloration. Although often overlooked, such nonautosomal genetic variation exhibits sex-dependent patterns of inheritance and potentially influences the evolution of sexual dichromatism.
Data from: Regulatory changes in pterin and carotenoid genes underlie balanced color polymorphisms in the wall lizard
Reptiles use pterin and carotenoid pigments to produce yellow, orange, and red colors. These conspicuous colors serve a diversity of signaling functions, but their molecular basis remains unresolved. Here, we show that the genomes of sympatric color morphs of the European common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), which differ in orange and yellow pigmentation and in their ecology and behavior, are virtually undifferentiated. Genetic differences are restricted to two small regulatory regions, near genes associated with pterin (SPR) and carotenoid metabolism (BCO2), demonstrating that a core gene in the housekeeping pathway of pterin biosynthesis has been co-opted for bright coloration in reptiles and indicating that these loci exert pleiotropic effects on other aspects of physiology. Pigmentation differences are explained by extremely divergent alleles and haplotype analysis revealed abundant trans-specific allele sharing with other lacertids exhibiting color polymorphisms. The evolution of these conspicuous color ornaments is the result of ancient genetic variation and cross-species hybridization.
Data from: Colour in a new light: a spectral perspective on the quantitative genetics of carotenoid coloration
1. Carotenoid-based colours are model traits for research on animal signalling and sexual selection but, whereas the consequences of variable expression have been extensively studied, its causes are rarely quantified. This issue is complicated by the composite nature of carotenoid-based colour patches, which combine pigments and a reflective background. Ultimately, the evolution of such colours will be determined by the processes that govern variable expression of these mechanisms. 2. We present a novel approach to assessing the quantitative genetics of colour expression, in which reflectance spectra are analysed directly, thereby avoiding the data loss and inherent subjectivity of summary colour variables. Further, the influence of the multiple component mechanisms can be distinguished in spectral analyses due to their contrasting wavelength-dependencies. 3. Using data from a six-year study of carotenoid-based plumage reflectance in wild great tits (Parus major), we employ a multi-parallel 'animal modelling' approach to estimate sources of variance for narrow (2nm) wavebands across the visible spectrum. 4. Moderate heritability estimates were limited to the violet-blue region of the spectrum, diagnostic of the carotenoid content of plumage being heritable. The natal environment effect was limited entirely to the violet-blue, again indicating that it relates to variation in carotenoid content of feathers. Other wavelengths were sensitive to annual and permanent environmental variation but only marginally influenced by additive genetic variation. Hence background reflectance is the component that is more sensitive to the environment. 5. Analysing reflectance spectra directly provided an objective perspective of the dynamics of colour expression that is not apparent when relying on summary colour scores. In this case, our results suggest that carotenoid deposition may be an effective target of selection and hence could explain the important role carotenoids frequently play in intraspecific signalling.
Data from: Carotenoid-based bill coloration functions as a social, not sexual, signal in songbirds (Aves: Passeriformes)
Many animals use coloration to communicate with other individuals. While the signalling role of avian plumage colour is relatively well studied, there has been much less research on coloration in avian bare parts. However, bare parts could be highly informative signals as they can show rapid changes in coloration. We measured bill colour (a ubiquitous bare part) in over 1600 passerine species and tested whether interspecific variation in carotenoid-based coloration is consistent with signalling to potential mates or signalling to potential rivals in a competitive context. Our results suggest that carotenoid bill coloration primarily evolved as a signal of dominance, as this type of coloration is more common in species that live in social groups in the non-breeding season, and species that nest in colonies; two socio-ecological conditions that promote frequent agonistic interactions with numerous and/or unfamiliar individuals. Additionally, our study suggests that carotenoid bill coloration is independent of the intensity of past sexual selection, as it is not related to either sexual dichromatism or sexual size dimorphism. These results pose a significant challenge to the conventional view that carotenoid-based avian coloration has evolved as a developmentally costly, condition-dependent sexual signal. We also suggest that bare part ornamentation may often signal different information than plumage ornaments.
Mutual mate choice and assortative mating in relation to a carotenoid-based color trait in blue tits
<p>Choosing an appropriate partner is a critical decision for many animal species. However, many mechanisms involved in mate choice are still poorly understood. Do both males and females choose their sexual partners, do both sexes use the same criteria for choosing, and do their own phenotype influence the choices they make, are questions that need further investigation. Over two successive experiments conducted in captivity with hand-reared blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), we manipulated the color of the chest plumage, a secondary sexual trait that reflects an individual's condition, to create two different color morphs (one pale and one colored). We then tested whether both sexes express a preference, whether they are attracted to the same morphs, and if the subjects' own chest color influences the preference they show. Our data reveal that both sexes are choosy, with females tending to be slightly choosier than males. We also show that both sexes preferentially select individuals with a pale chest plumage over colorful individuals, and this was again more pronounced in females. Finally, paler individuals tend to be selected by birds that are themselves pale, even if this phenotype matching was not very robust. Such a preference for paler individuals is intriguing since mates are predicted to associate with individuals displaying higher, not lower, value of quality signals. It could result from adaptive mechanisms related to avoidance of aggressiveness in confined environment, avoidance of conflicting sexual signals within individuals, or from cultural mechanisms leading to preference for individuals that match its own phenotype.</p>
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