Abstract
Carotenoid pigments are involved in different physiological processes (e.g., immunoenhancement, antioxidant activity) in addition to coloring plumage and integuments. As animals cannot synthesize these pigments de novo, it has been proposed that carotenoids constitute a limiting resource that birds may specifically seek in their food. Confirming this hypothesis, it was recently found that birds can discriminate between carotenoid-enriched diets and control diets, even if both have the same color, suggesting that there may be underlying non-visual (e.g., olfactory, taste) mechanisms for detecting carotenoid presence or enrichment in foods. In this study, we performed two experiments with male House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) to test if this species is able to discriminate between (1) carotenoid-enriched and plain sunflower seeds (while controlling for food coloration), and (2) plain seeds scented with β-ionone, which is a carotenoid-degradation product that is common in many fruits and is one of the most powerful flavor-active organic compounds, or a sham odorant. We found that finches did not show significant food preferences in either experiment, indicating that they did not use odor or flavor cues associated with carotenoids to discriminate between foods. However, our results do not rule out the possibilities that other flavors or odors can be used in discrimination or that finches may learn to discriminate flavors and odors over longer periods of time or at other times of year through post-ingestive feedback mechanisms.
Zusammenfassung
Können Hausgimpel ( Carpodacus mexicanus ) andere als optische Informationen verwenden, um den Karotinoid-Gehalt ihrer Nahrung einzuschätzen?
Über die Farbgebung von Gefieder und Haut hinaus sind Karotinoid-Farbstoffe an diversen physiologischen Prozessen beteiligt (Stärkung des Immunsystems, Antioxidantien-Aktivität). Da Tiere diese Farbstoffe nicht selbst synthetisieren können, wurde bereits die Idee präsentiert, Karotinoide stellten einen Ressource-Faktor dar, den Vögel gezielt in ihrer Nahrung suchen. Als Bestätigung dieser Hypothese wurde kürzlich herausgefunden, dass Vögel zwischen Karotinoid-angereicherter und Kontroll-Nahrung unterscheiden können, auch wenn beide die gleiche Farbe haben. Dies legt nahe, dass es außer optischen noch andere Informationen geben muss (z. B. Geruch, Geschmack), die als Mechanismen dienen können, das Vorhandensein von, und den Gehalt an, Karotinioden in der Nahrung festzustellen. In unserer Untersuchung führten wir ein Zwei-Stufen-Experiment mit männlichen Hausgimpeln (Carpodacus mexicanus) durch, um zu testen, ob diese Art unterscheiden kann zwischen (1) Karotinoid-angereicherten und reinen Sonnenblumensamen (bei gleicher Farbe), und (2) reinen, mit β-Iononen parfürmierten Samenkörnern und solchen mit einem anderen, ähnlichen Duft (β-Ionone sind ein in vielen Früchten vorkommendes Abbauprodukt von Karotinoiden und eine der am stärksten duftenden organischen Verbindungen überhaupt). Wir stellten fest, dass die Finken in den Experimenten keinerlei signifikante Bevorzugung einer der Nahrungsstoffe zeigten, was darauf hinwies, dass sie in der Wahl ihrer Nahrung keine mit Karotinoiden zusammenhängende Geschmacks- oder Geruchs-Informationen benutzten. Andererseits schließen unsere Ergebnisse aber auch nicht die Möglichkeit aus, dass in der Unterscheidung von Nahrungsstoffen ein anderer Geruch oder Geschmack benutzt wurde, oder dass die Finken die Unterscheidung anhand von Geruch oder Geschmack über einen längeren Zeitraum oder zu anderen Jahreszeiten über Rückkopplungsmechanismen in der Verdauung lernen.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (IOS-0910357 to K.J.M. and 0923694 to M.B.T. and K.J.M.) and from the Fyssen Foundation to M.G. We thank DSM Inc., Heerlen, Netherlands, for donating the carotenoid supplement.
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Communicated by F. Bairlein.
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Giraudeau, M., Toomey, M.B. & McGraw, K.J. Can House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) use non-visual cues to discriminate the carotenoid content of foods?. J Ornithol 153, 1017–1023 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0829-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0829-z