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Carotenoid-based colour expression is determined early in nestling life

  • Behavioural Ecology
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Abstract

Carotenoid-based colours are widespread in animals and are used as signals in intra- and interspecific communication. In nestling birds, the carotenoids used for feather pigmentation may derive via three pathways: (1) via maternal transfer to egg yolk; (2) via paternal feeds early after hatching when females are mainly brooding; or (3) via feeds from both parents later in nestling life. We analysed the relative importance of the proposed carotenoid sources in a field experiment on great tit nestlings (Parus major). In a within-brood design we supplemented nestlings with carotenoids shortly after hatching, later on in the nestling life, or with a placebo. We show that the carotenoid-based colour expression of nestlings is modified maximally during the first 6 days after hatching. It reveals that the observed variation in carotenoid-based coloration is based only on mechanisms acting during a short period of time in early nestling life. The experiment further suggests that paternally derived carotenoids are the most important determinants of nestling plumage colour.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel and Alfred Giger for kindly providing carotenoid and placebo beadlets, Kurt Bernhard for helpful advice, and Jean-Daniel Charrière and Peter Fluri for providing the bee larvae. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 31-53956.98 to H. Richner) and the Swiss Bundesamt für Bildung und Wissenschaft (grant BBW Nr. 01.0254 to P.S. Fitze). The experiment was conducted under a licence provided by the Ethical Committee of the Office of Agriculture of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

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  1. Patrick S. Fitze

    Present address: Ecology Laboratory, University Pierre & Marie Curie – CNRS, 7 quai Saint Bernard, Case 237, 75252, Paris, Cedex 05, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoology, Evolutionary Ecology Division, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Patrick S. Fitze, Barbara Tschirren & Heinz Richner

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

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Fitze, P.S., Tschirren, B. & Richner, H. Carotenoid-based colour expression is determined early in nestling life. Oecologia 137, 148–152 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1323-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1323-3

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