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Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Control of Avian Communication Based on Colorful Plumage Porphyrins

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Abstract

Studies of avian visual communication are often approached from the perspective of adaptation-based hypotheses couched in an ecological framework. Despite their exceptional ecological diversity, however, birds express relatively few pigment categories in their visual signals or receptors. The mismatch between ecologic and pigment diversity suggests the operation of non-ecological constraints on avian visual communication. Colorful plumage porphyrins (turacoverdin and turacin) were examined to determine if both signal and receptor pigment absorption patterns co-vary with ecology, if only plumage pigment absorption varies with ecology, or if plumage and receptor pigment absorption are tied to each other’s physicochemical, physiological, and phylogenetic characteristics rather than to ecology. Physicochemical constraints on signal form were suggested by the persistence of the plumage pigments’ diagnostic spectral structure across lineages despite dramatic ecological differences. Physiological constraints on communication were suggested by the occurrence of colorful porphyrins only in birds with violet-sensitive (VS) vision, whose receptor sensitivities aligned to colorful porphyrin spectral structure much more strongly than did receptors of alternative visual systems. Phylogenetic constraints on these associations were evidenced by restriction of colorful plumage porphyrins to just a few lineages, all non-passerines (galliforms, musophagiforms, and charadriiforms). Synthesis of these patterns indicated that VS visual systems always evolved prior to colorful plumage porphyrins, suggesting a sensory bias for plumage pigments based on signal-receptor alignment. Patterns for colorful porphyrins and violet-sensitive systems reinforce the functional coupling between signal and receptor pigments observed for carotenoid plumage pigments in ultraviolet-sensitive birds, but the pairings differ in details of their alignments.

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Acknowledgments

I thank the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (Nate Rice), the Delaware Museum of Natural History (Jean Woods), and the Los Angeles County Museum (Kimball Garrett) for loaning specimens, and the University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum (Laura Halverson-Monahan, Paula Holahan, Kathryn Jones) for logistical support. William Feeny and Sarah Friedrich assisted with drafting figures. The National Science Foundation (IOS 0741857), and the Vilas Life Cycle Program of the University of Wisconsin (133-PRJ45EB, 133-PRJ45EC) provided generous financial support for this work.

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    Robert Bleiweiss

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On-line Resource 1: E-Table 1. Excel spreadsheet list and details for the 14 species and 36 specimens used for the study (XLS 28 kb)

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Bleiweiss, R. Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Control of Avian Communication Based on Colorful Plumage Porphyrins. Evol Biol 42, 483–501 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-015-9343-6

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