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Melanin- and Carotenoid-Based Coloration of Plumage and the Level of Aggressiveness: The Relationship of These Parameters in the Greenfinch (Chloris chloris, Passeriformes, Fringillidae)

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Abstract—

In passerine birds, the coloration of plumage is associated with two groups of pigments (melanins and carotenoids). The physiological bases of the appearance of melanin- and carotenoid-based coloration are fundamentally different, and these types of coloration reflect different characteristics of an individual. It is considered that the expressiveness of melanin-based coloration primarily depends on genetic factors, while the expressiveness of carotenoid-based coloration depends on the state and health of an individual at the moment. Therefore, the individual variability of these two types of coloration should be independent of each other. We studied the coloration of the second (from the distal edge) rectrix in 109 greenfinch males of two age cohorts (one year old and aged two or more years). The relationship between the level of aggressiveness of different birds and their color characteristics was also considered. The feathers we are interested in are two-color; their distal part is black (or blackish), while the proximal part (basis) is yellow. The black color is caused by melanins, while the yellow one by carotenoids. We demonstrated that the saturation of yellow carotenoid-based coloration in greenfinch males has a significant and negative relationship with the length of the black (melanin) spot on the same rectrix (the relationship of the saturation of the yellow coloration with the length of the yellow field is, respectively, positive). Thus, the individual variability of melanin- and carotenoid-based coloration in our case is parallel. This indicates that the roles of these groups of pigments as indicators (markers) of the quality and state of an individual were not as fundamentally different as is commonly thought. However, there are definitely differences in this regard between melanin- and carotenoid-based coloration: the black melanin-based coloration in the greenfinch is associated with aggressiveness, while the yellow carotenoid-based one is not.

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Funding

This work was carried out within the topic of the State Assignment 2013—2020, project no. AAAA-A18-118042690110-1(0119-2019-0003) “Ecological and Evolutionary Aspects of Behavior and Communication of Animals.”

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  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    M. E. Diatroptov & A. S. Opaev

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Correspondence to A. S. Opaev.

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Translated by A. Barkhash

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Diatroptov, M.E., Opaev, A.S. Melanin- and Carotenoid-Based Coloration of Plumage and the Level of Aggressiveness: The Relationship of These Parameters in the Greenfinch (Chloris chloris, Passeriformes, Fringillidae). Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 49, 1482–1490 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359022090102

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