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Carotenoid-based nestling colouration and parental favouritism in the great tit

Oecologia volume 143, pages 477–482 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

While elaborate carotenoid-based traits in adult birds may have evolved as honest signals of individual quality in the context of sexual selection or other social interactions, the function of carotenoid-based colours in juveniles is less well understood. We investigated the hypothesis that carotenoid-based nestling colouration has evolved in response to parental preference of intensely coloured offspring during food provisioning. In a field experiment, we manipulated nestling plumage colouration by a carotenoid-supplementation and analysed the parental food provisioning behaviour before feather appearance and at the end of the nestling stage. Carotenoids per se did not influence the nestling’s begging behaviour or parental feeding decisions and we found no evidence that carotenoid-based colouration in nestling great tits has a signalling function in parent-offspring interactions. Parents did not discriminate between intensely coloured and control offspring in their food provisioning and in accordance with this finding intensely coloured nestlings were not heavier or larger at the end of the nestling stage. Alternative explanations for the evolution of carotenoid-based colours in nestling birds are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Hoffmann, La Roche, Basel for kindly providing carotenoids (Lutein 5%-beadlets) and placebos, Jean-Daniel Charrière and Peter Fluri for providing bee larvae, Kurt Bernhard for his helpful advise, the participants of the Colour Signalling Meeting 2004 at Konnevesi Research Station, Finland for discussion and Heli Siitari and Sveinn Are Hanssen for their helpful comments on the manuscript. The experiment was financially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and conducted under a licence provided by the Office of Agriculture of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

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Affiliations

  1. Division of Evolutionary Ecology, Zoological Institute, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Barbara Tschirren & Heinz Richner

  2. Behavioural Ecology Group, Zoology Department, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

    Patrick S. Fitze

Authors
  1. Barbara Tschirren
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  2. Patrick S. Fitze
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  3. Heinz Richner
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Correspondence to Barbara Tschirren.

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Tschirren, B., Fitze, P.S. & Richner, H. Carotenoid-based nestling colouration and parental favouritism in the great tit. Oecologia 143, 477–482 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1812-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1812-z

Keywords

  • Begging
  • Feeding behaviour
  • Food provisioning
  • Parent-offspring interaction
  • Signalling