Abstract
We used a brood-size manipulation to test the effect of rearing environment on structural coloration of feathers grown by eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) nestlings. Ultraviolet (UV)-blue structural coloration has been shown to be sexually selected in this species. Our experimental design took advantage of the growth of UV-blue wing feathers in nestlings that are retained as part of the first nuptial plumage. We cross-fostered nestlings to create enlarged and reduced broods with the purpose of manipulating parental feeding rates and measured the effect on nestling growth and plumage coloration. Brood size influenced feeding rates to offspring, but the effect varied with season. In general, male nestlings reared in reduced broods were fed more often, weighed more, and displayed brighter structural plumage compared to nestlings reared in enlarged broods. Female nestlings appeared to experience less adverse affects of brood enlargement, and we did not detect an effect of brood-size manipulation on the plumage coloration of female nestlings. Measures of plumage coloration in both males and females, however, were correlated to hatching date and nestling mass during feather development. These data provide empirical evidence that environmental quality can influence the development of the blue structural coloration of feathers and that males may be more sensitive to environmental fluctuations than females.
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Acknowledgments
We thank E. Gering, T. Robinson, and B. Staton for field assistance and C. Ariail, A. King, and H. Mays Jr. for laboratory assistance. We are grateful to R. Montgomerie for the use of his spectral processing program, to I. Cuthill and J. McGlothlin for statistical advice, and to M. Liu for comments on the manuscript. This research was conducted according to an animal use permit from Auburn University, banding permits to GEH, and complies with the laws of the USA. Funding came from NSF grants IBN 9722171, IBN 0235778, DEB 0077804 to GEH, a NSF-NIH grant R01-AI49724 to GEH and American Ornithological Union, Animal Behaviour Society, and Birmingham Audubon Society grants to LS.
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Siefferman, L., Hill, G.E. The effect of rearing environment on blue structural coloration of eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 1839–1846 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0416-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0416-0