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Zheng K, Liang D, Wang X, Han Y, Griesser M, Liu Y, Fan P. Contrasting coloured ventral wings are a visual collision avoidance signal in birds. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220678. [PMID: 35858052 PMCID: PMC9257291 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Collisions between fast-moving objects often cause severe damage, but collision avoidance mechanisms of fast-moving animals remain understudied. Particularly, birds can fly fast and often in large groups, raising the question of how individuals avoid in-flight collisions that are potentially lethal. We tested the collision-avoidance hypothesis, which proposes that conspicuously contrasting ventral wings are visual signals that help birds to avoid collisions. We scored the ventral wing contrasts for a global dataset of 1780 bird species. Phylogenetic comparative analyses showed that larger species had more contrasting ventral wings than smaller species, and that in larger species, colonial breeders had more contrasting ventral wings than non-colonial breeders. Evidently, larger species have lower manoeuvrability than smaller species, and colonial-breeding species frequently encounter con- and heterospecifics, increasing their risk of in-flight collisions. Thus, more contrasting ventral wing patterns in these species are a sensory mechanism that facilitates collision avoidance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaidan Zheng
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Dan Liang
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China,Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
| | - Xuwen Wang
- Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN 46225, USA
| | - Yuqing Han
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Michael Griesser
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany,Department of Collective Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Yang Liu
- School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China,State Key Laboratory of Biological Control, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Pengfei Fan
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China,State Key Laboratory of Biological Control, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
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Howell N, Sheard C, Koneru M, Brockelsby K, Ono K, Caro T. Aposematism in mammals. Evolution 2021; 75:2480-2493. [PMID: 34347894 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Aposematic coloration is traditionally considered to signal unpalatability or toxicity. In mammals, most research has focused on just one form of defense, namely, noxious anal secretions, and its black-and-white advertisement as exemplified by skunks. The original formulation of aposematism, however, encompassed a broader range of morphological, physiological, and behavioral defenses, and there are many mammal species with black-and-white contrasting patterns that do not have noxious adaptations. Here, using Bayesian phylogenetic models and data from 1726 terrestrial nonvolant mammals we find that two aspects of conspicuous coloration, black-and-white coloration patterns on the head and body, advertise defenses that are morphological (spines, large body size), behavioral (pugnacity), and physiological (anal secretions), as well as being involved with sexual signaling and environmental factors linked to crypsis. Within Carnivora, defensive anal secretions are associated with complex black-and-white head patterns and longitudinal black-and-white body striping; in primates, larger bodied species exhibit irregular patches of black-and-white pelage; and in rodents, pugnacity is linked to sharp countershading and irregular blocks of white and black pelage. We show that black-and-white coloration in mammals is multifunctional, that it serves to warn predators of several defenses other than noxious anal secretions, and that aposematism in mammals is not restricted to carnivores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natasha Howell
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Catherine Sheard
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Manisha Koneru
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, 95616
| | - Kasey Brockelsby
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, 95616
| | - Konatsu Ono
- Department of Animal Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, 95616
| | - Tim Caro
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom.,Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, 95616
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Morales J, Cuervo JJ, Moreno J, Soler JJ. Juvenile plumage whiteness is associated with the evolution of clutch size in passerines. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The offspring of many animals are conspicuous during parental dependence, despite juveniles generally suffering from high predation risk. However, to date, it is unclear whether offspring structural ornaments play a role in intrafamily communication. This is the case of conspicuous plumage in young birds, which is worn unchanged during a long period after fledging, when they still depend on their parents. If plumage color facilitates intrafamily interactions, its role should be more important in large-brooded species, where the strength of intrafamily conflict is potentially stronger. We therefore performed a comparative study in 210 passerine bird species to test whether an offspring structural trait, white plumage, evolves more frequently in lineages with larger clutches. We also explored the number of broods raised per year as another source of intrafamily conflict. First, we found that juvenile whiteness was more frequent in open-nesting species. Moreover, in agreement with our prediction, the presence of juvenile white tail/wing patches was strongly and positively associated with clutch size. This relationship was not due to the strong resemblance between offspring and adult plumage, which was controlled for in the statistical analyses. Moreover, the association remained significant after taking into account predation risk, for which there was information for a subset of species. In contrast, juvenile whiteness was not associated with the number of broods raised per year. These results may suggest that the evolution of juvenile conspicuousness is favored in species with potentially stronger intrabrood sibling conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Morales
- National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal, Madrid, Spain
| | - José Javier Cuervo
- National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Moreno
- National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan José Soler
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Ctra. de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
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Galván I. Correlated Evolution of White Spots on Ears and Closed Habitat Preferences in Felids. J MAMM EVOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-019-09464-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand’s Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae. DIVERSITY-BASEL 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/d11020024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
The recently extinct New Zealand adzebills (Aptornithidae, Aptornis spp.) were an enigmatic group of large flightless birds that have long eluded precise taxonomic assignment as they do not closely resemble any extant birds. Adzebills were nearly wingless, weighed approximately 16–19 kg, and possessed massive adze-like reinforced bills whose function remains unknown. Using hybridisation enrichment and high-throughput sequencing of DNA extracted from subfossil bone and eggshell, near-complete mitochondrial genomes were successfully assembled from the two Quaternary adzebill species: the North Island Adzebill (Aptornis otidiformis) and South Island Adzebill (A. defossor). Molecular phylogenetic analyses confirm that adzebills are members of the Ralloidea (rails and allies) and are sister-taxon to the Sarothruridae, which our results suggest comprises the Madagascan wood rails (Mentocrex, two likely sp.) in addition to the tiny (<50 gram) rail-like Afro-Madagascan flufftails (Sarothrura, 9 spp.). Node age estimates indicate that the split between adzebills and Sarothruridae occurred ~39.6 Ma, suggesting that the ancestors of the adzebills arrived in New Zealand by long-distance dispersal rather than continental vicariance. This newly identified biogeographic link between physically distant New Zealand and Afro-Madagascar, echoed by the relationship between the New Zealand kiwi (Apterygiformes) and Madagascan elephant-birds (Aepyornithiformes), suggests that the adzebill’s near relatives were formerly more widespread. In addition, our estimate for the divergence time between the two Quaternary adzebill species (0.2–2.3 Ma) coincides with the emergence of a land-bridge between the North and South islands of New Zealand (ca. 1.5–2 Ma). This relatively recent divergence suggests that North Island adzebills are the result of a relatively recent dispersal from the South Island, from which the earliest (Miocene) adzebill fossil has been described.
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Caro T, Allen WL. Interspecific visual signalling in animals and plants: a functional classification. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 372:rstb.2016.0344. [PMID: 28533461 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Organisms frequently gain advantages when they engage in signalling with individuals of other species. Here, we provide a functionally structured framework of the great variety of interspecific visual signals seen in nature, and then describe the different signalling mechanisms that have evolved in response to each of these functional requirements. We propose that interspecific visual signalling can be divided into six major functional categories: anti-predator, food acquisition, anti-parasite, host acquisition, reproductive and agonistic signalling, with each function enabled by several distinct mechanisms. We support our classification by reviewing the ecological and behavioural drivers of interspecific signalling in animals and plants, principally focusing on comparative studies that address large-scale patterns of diversity. Collating diverse examples of interspecific signalling into an organized set of functional and mechanistic categories places anachronistic behavioural and morphological labels in fresh context, clarifies terminology and redirects research effort towards understanding environmental influences driving interspecific signalling in nature.This article is part of the themed issue 'Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Caro
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - William L Allen
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, UK
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Caro T. Wallace on Coloration: Contemporary Perspective and Unresolved Insights. Trends Ecol Evol 2017; 32:23-30. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2016.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2016] [Revised: 09/30/2016] [Accepted: 10/03/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Abstract
Eumelanin and pheomelanin are the most common vertebrate pigments. They generate different colours and are synthesized under different physiological conditions. While pheomelanogenesis requires high levels of a key intracellular antioxidant (glutathione, GSH), eumelanogenesis is inhibited by GSH. This implies that species that present the molecular basis to produce large amounts of pheomelanin might be more limited to perform other costly processes that generate oxidative stress than species that produce eumelanin. Brain development requires large amounts of energy and antioxidants during ontogeny, so that large-brained species may be constrained in their simultaneous synthesis of large amounts of pheomelanin, but not in their synthesis of eumelanin. Here, we tested this hypothesis in a large dataset of 323 bird species. After controlling for the effects of phylogeny, latitude and sexual dichromatism, the proportion of pheomelanic plumage colour was strongly negatively related to the relative brain mass of species, whereas no relationship was found for the proportion of eumelanic colour. This indicates that the production of pheomelanin is a costly process that cannot evolve together with complex neural structures and thus with large cognitive capacity. This is the first time that the expression of melanic traits is found to correlate with another phenotypic character across species.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Galván
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana/CSIC, Seville, Spain.
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GALVÁN I, MØLLER AP, ERRITZØE J. Testicular melanization has evolved in birds with high mtDNA mutation rates. J Evol Biol 2011; 24:988-98. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02231.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
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