Abstract
Many empirical studies have focused on highly ornamented species to identify ecological factors that maintain the ornamentation or favour its exaggeration. By contrast, although reduction or loss of ornamentation appears to be widespread, species with reduced/lost ornamentation and its relationship with ecological factors are rarely focused on. Here, based on data collected over 4 years, we studied outermost tail feather length, i.e. a well-known sexual ornamentation in this clade, in relation to roosting location in the Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica during winter. In contrast to congeners, this species has inconspicuous tail ornamentation, i.e. very shallowly forked tails with vestigial streamers, providing a rare opportunity to study the ecological factors driving reduced ornamentation. We found that Pacific Swallows mainly roost in old nests under bridges over rivers, which resemble their original roosting sites, but some roost in much warmer sites, i.e. old nests under the eaves of houses above the ground. Individuals roosting under the eaves of houses had significantly longer outermost (but not central) tail feathers than those roosting under bridges. Individuals roosting under the eaves of houses were heavier and showed lower physiological stress, and thus might better endure the maintenance cost, favouring ornament elaboration. Because we controlled for the effects of sex and age, these factors would not confound the observed pattern. Reduced ornamentation, as found in Pacific Swallows roosting under their original roosting sites, could become elaborated in benign environments (i.e. under eaves, here), stressing the importance of balance between the costs and benefits of ornamentation.
Zusammenfassung
Schwache Ornamentierung wurde bei Tahitischwalben in günstigen Umgebungen ausgeprägter.
Viele empirische Studien haben sich auf stark ornamentierte Arten konzentriert, um ökologische Parameter zu identifizieren, die die Ornamentierung erhalten oder ihre Ausprägung fördert. Obwohl die Reduzierung oder der Verlust von Ornamenten weit verbreitet zu sein scheint, werden dahingegen Arten mit reduzierten/verlorenen Ornamenten und deren Beziehung zu ökologischen Faktoren nur selten untersucht. Basierend auf Daten, die über vier Jahre gesammelt wurden, untersuchten wir hier bei der Tahitischwalbe Hirundo tahitica die Länge der äußersten Schwanzfedern, d. h. ein bekanntes Geschlechtsornament in dieser Klade, in Bezug auf den Standort des Schlafplatzes im Winter. Im Gegensatz zu ihren Artverwandten weist diese Art unauffällige Schwanzornamente auf, d. h. sehr schwach gegabelte Schwänze mit rudimentären äußeren Schwanzfedern, den sogenannten Streamern, was eine seltene Gelegenheit bietet, die ökologischen Faktoren zu untersuchen, die eine reduzierte Ornamentierung beeinflussen. Wir fanden heraus, dass Tahitischwalben hauptsächlich in alten Nestern unter Brücken über Flüssen übernachten, die ihren ursprünglichen Schlafplätzen ähneln, aber einige übernachten auch an viel wärmeren Orten, d. h. in alten Nestern unter den Dachvorsprüngen von Häusern über dem Erdboden. Individuen, die hier schliefen, hatten deutlich längere äußere (aber nicht mittlere) Schwanzfedern als diejenigen, die unter Brücken übernachteten. Weiterhin waren sie schwerer, wiesen geringeren physiologischen Stress auf und konnten somit womöglich Fitnesskosten besser stemmen, was die stärkere Ausbildung von Ornamenten begünstigte. Da wir die Auswirkungen des Geschlechts und des Alters kontrollierten, können diese Parameter das beobachtete Muster nicht verfälscht haben. Eine reduzierte Ornamentierung, wie sie bei Tahitischwalben, die an ihren ursprünglichen Schlafplätzen übernachten, gefunden wurde, könnte in günstigen Umgebungen (d. h. in unserem Fall unter Dachvorsprüngen) ausgeprägter werden, was die Bedeutung des Gleichgewichts zwischen Kosten und Nutzen der Ornamentierung unterstreicht.
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The datasets analysed during the current study were not publicly available due to ongoing other studies but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We greatly appreciate all house owners who allowed us to study Pacific Swallows in their houses. We also thank Dr Taku Mizuta for managing our field study. We appreciate Dr Nobuyuki Kutsukake and his lab members at Sokendai, and Dr Shumpei Kitamura and his lab members at Ishikawa Preferctural University. We thank Drs Yohei Terai, Eiji Tanaka, Tohru Ikeya, and Ichiro Tayasu for their technical support on laboratory experiments. We thank anonymous reviewers for critical comments. MH was supported by a Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, 15J10000) and KAKENHI (JSPS, 19K06850).
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MH did most field survey together with EA, performed EIA assay, molecular sexing, statistical analysis and wrote the most of the manuscript, EA and TK assisted molecular sexing and improved the manuscript.
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The permits for the current study including capturing, measurements, blood collection and feather collection were provided by Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan (#143, #94, #49, #144 in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 respectively), following the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Management Law.
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Hasegawa, M., Arai, E. & Kato, T. Reduced ornamentation became elaborated in benign environments in Pacific Swallows. J Ornithol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-024-02166-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-024-02166-z