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Eggshell colour does not predict measures of maternal investment in eggs of Turdus thrushes

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Abstract

The striking diversity of avian eggshell colour has long fascinated biologists. Recently, it has been proposed that the blue-green colour of some eggs may function as a post-mating sexually selected signal of female phenotypic quality to their mates to induce higher allocation of paternal care. It has been suggested that maternally deposited yolk carotenoids may be the specific aspect of reproductive quality that the female is signalling via eggshell colour. We use the known properties of the thrush visual system (Turdus sp.) to calculate photon capture for the four single cone photoreceptors, and the principal member of the double cone class for eggs in clutches of two introduced European thrush species (Turdus merula and Turdus philomelos) in New Zealand. We show that differences in the avian-perceived colours of individual eggs are not consistently correlated with different measures of maternal investment in the egg. Given the growing extent of the knowledge between maternal quality, parental investment and eggshell pigmentation across avian taxa, we encourage the use of avian perceptual modelling for testing alternative non-signalling explanations for the structural and physiological basis of these relationships.

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Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to R. Peacock, B. and G. Cassey, K. Mathews, G. and S. Cassey, M. Thompson and D. Armstrong for accommodation and access to private land. Y. Richard, N. MacArthur and R. Boulton assisted in locating naturally occurring nests, and this study would not have been completed without their input. Spectral sensitivities were kindly provided by N. Hart, J. Lockwood, and three anonymous referees provided comments that greatly improved our draft manuscript. Financial support was provided, in part, by the University of Auckland Research Council (to PC and MEH), the Universitas 21 Birmingham Travel Fund (to PC), a Human Frontier Science Program award (to PC and MEH), the New Zealand Marsden Fund (to MEH) and a Royal Society Grant (to JGE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ornithology, School of Biosciences, Birmingham University, Birmingham, UK

    Phillip Cassey

  2. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London, UK

    John G. Ewen & Tim M. Blackburn

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Mark E. Hauber

  4. Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Misha Vorobyev & N. Justin Marshall

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  1. Phillip Cassey
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  2. John G. Ewen
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Correspondence to Phillip Cassey.

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Cassey, P., Ewen, J.G., Blackburn, T.M. et al. Eggshell colour does not predict measures of maternal investment in eggs of Turdus thrushes. Naturwissenschaften 95, 713–721 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0376-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0376-x

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