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Integument coloration signals reproductive success, heterozygosity, and antioxidant levels in chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes

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Abstract

Carotenoid pigments are important for immunity and as antioxidants, and carotenoid-based colors are believed to provide honest signals of individual quality. Other colorless but more efficient antioxidants such as vitamins A and E may protect carotenoids from bleaching. Carotenoid-based colors have thus recently been suggested to reflect the concentration of such colorless antioxidants, but this has rarely been tested. Furthermore, although evidence is accruing for multiple genetic criteria for mate choice, carotenoid-based colors have rarely been shown to reflect both phenotypic and genetic quality. In this study, we investigated whether gape, tongue, eye-ring, and bill coloration of chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla reflected circulating levels of carotenoids and vitamins A and E. We further investigated whether integument coloration reflected phenotypic (body condition and fledging success) and genetic quality (heterozygosity). We found that the coloration of fleshy integuments was correlated with carotenoid and vitamin A levels and fledging success but only in males. Furthermore, the coloration of tongue and eye-ring was correlated with heterozygosity in both males and females. Integument colors might therefore be reliable signals of individual quality used by birds to adjust their parental care during the chick-rearing period.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to F. Bailly, P. Blanchard, T. Merkling, C. DeFranceschi, and V. Frochot for their help in the field, and E. Lhuillier and C. Veyssière for their help in genotyping. We thank J. Cornuault for his help in using Avicol software and M. Giraudeau, F. Helfenstein, and C. Doutrelant for helpful discussion. Experiments were carried out in accordance with US laws and under permits from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and State of Alaska. This study was financed in part by the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV, program 1162). Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US government.

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  1. Sarah Leclaire

    Present address: LARG, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, ENFA; UMR5174 EDB (Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique), 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France

    Sarah Leclaire, Joël White, Nathanaël Vetter & Étienne Danchin

  2. Université de Toulouse, UMR5174 EDB, 31062, Toulouse, France

    Sarah Leclaire, Joël White, Nathanaël Vetter & Étienne Danchin

  3. Biogéosciences UMR 5561, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France

    Emilie Arnoux & Bruno Faivre

  4. U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 4210 University Drive, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA

    Scott A. Hatch

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  1. Sarah Leclaire
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Correspondence to Sarah Leclaire.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Leclaire, S., White, J., Arnoux, E. et al. Integument coloration signals reproductive success, heterozygosity, and antioxidant levels in chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes. Naturwissenschaften 98, 773 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0827-7

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