Carotenoid-Based Plumage Coloration Reflects Hemoparasite Infection and Local Survival in Breeding Great Tits

Carotenoid-based sexual coloration has been hypothesised to be prevalent across many vertebrate taxa because it reliably reflects individual phenotypic quality in terms of foraging efficiency or health status due to the trade-off between signal colour and use of carotenoids for immune function and d...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia 2001-01, Vol.126 (2), p.166-173
Main Authors: Hõrak, Peeter, Ots, Indrek, Helen Vellau, Claire Spottiswoode, Møller, Anders Pape
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Autoecology
Aves
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Blood
Carotenoids
Colors
Ecophysiology
Female animals
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Haemoproteus
Infections
Male animals
Parasites
Parus major
Plumage
Sexual selection
Vertebrata
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Carotenoid-based sexual coloration has been hypothesised to be prevalent across many vertebrate taxa because it reliably reflects individual phenotypic quality in terms of foraging efficiency or health status due to the trade-off between signal colour and use of carotenoids for immune function and detoxification. We investigated the ventral, yellow coloration of breeding adult great tits (Parus major L.) in relation to sex, age, breeding habitat, local survival and infection status with respect to Haemoproteus blood parasites. The extent of plumage coloration (estimated as hue and lutein absorbance) was generally higher in rural than in urban birds. Males had higher values of hue than females. In both male and female yearlings, the plumage of unparasitised individuals had a greater hue of yellow than parasitised ones, while older males revealed the opposite pattern. The survival of infected yearlings was worse than that of uninfected yearlings, while the opposite was true for old breeders. Survivors had generally higher values of hue than non-survivors. These results are consistent with predictions of functional hypotheses, suggesting that carotenoid-based plumage coloration serves as a signal reflecting individual quality in terms of health status and local survival.
ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s004420000513