1
|
Non-Vocal Behaviors Are More Frequent During the Decisive Negotiation Phases in Barn Owl Siblings. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10101777. [PMID: 33019525 PMCID: PMC7601554 DOI: 10.3390/ani10101777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Revised: 09/22/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Animal communication can involve the use of multiple types of signals. While vocal communication has been widely studied in natural populations, there is a dearth of knowledge about the possible role of vibrations or noises made by body movements in communication processes. By using experimental settings both under natural conditions and in the laboratory, we showed that barn owl nestlings (Tyto alba) produced various non-vocal noises. Movement noises were particularly frequent when nestlings were involved in the intense vocal interactions they use to negotiate the priority for access to the next food item delivered by parents. Body movements might therefore have a role in reinforcing vocal signals during competitive interactions among siblings. Abstract Animals produce vibrations or noises by means of body movements, which can play a role in communication. These behaviors enhance signal transmission or receiver attention and could be specifically used during turn-taking phases of a reciprocal exchange of signals. In the barn owl Tyto alba, nestlings vocalize one after the other to negotiate which individual will have priority access to the impending prey item to be delivered by the parents. Owlets adjust their vocalization to their own hunger level and to their siblings’ vocalization, withdrawing from the contest in front of highly vocal, and hence hungry, motivated nestmates. As sibling negotiation is a multicomponent display, we examined whether body movements could also be part of the negotiation process. To this end, we analyzed whether the vocalizations of one nestling affected its nestmate’s movements in three separate experiments: in natural nests, in the lab, and using a playback procedure. Nestling barn owls move in a variety of ways, such as repeated tapping of the floor with a foot, scratching the floor with claws, or flapping wings. Body movements were more frequent during the turn-taking phases of vocal interactions, when siblings emitted longer calls and at a greater rate. Once an individual monopolized vocal activity, siblings became less vocal and less active. Moreover, owlets produced more noisy body movements during the phases of vocal interactions which are crucial to prevail in negotiation. Non-vocal physical activities might reinforce vocal signals during sibling to sibling (sib–sib) interactions, or reflect owlets’ arousal, in the critical period during which they vocally settle which individual will dominate the competition.
Collapse
|
2
|
Differential fitness effects of moonlight on plumage colour morphs in barn owls. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1331-1340. [PMID: 31477846 PMCID: PMC6728161 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0967-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2018] [Accepted: 07/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The Moon cycle exposes nocturnal life to variation in environmental light. However, whether moonlight shapes the fitness of nocturnal species with distinct colour variants remains unknown. Combining long-term monitoring, high-resolution GPS tracking, and experiments on prey, we show that barn owls (Tyto alba) with distinct plumage colourations are differently affected by moonlight. The reddest owls are less successful hunting and providing food to their offspring during moonlit nights, which associates with lower body mass and survival of the youngest nestlings and with female mates starting to lay eggs at low moonlight levels. Although moonlight should make white owls more conspicuous to prey, hunting and fitness of the whitest owls are positively or un-affected by moonlight. We experimentally show that, under full-moon conditions, white plumages trigger longer freezing times in the prey, which should facilitate prey catchability. We propose that the barn owl’s white plumage, a rare trait among nocturnal predators, exploits the known aversion of rodents to bright light, explaining why, counterintuitively, moonlight impacts less the whitest owls. Our study provides evidence for the long-suspected influence of the Moon on the evolution of colouration in nocturnal species, highlighting the importance of colour in nocturnal ecosystems.
Collapse
|
3
|
Béziers P, San-Jose LM, Almasi B, Jenni L, Roulin A. Baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels are heritable and genetically correlated in a barn owl population. Heredity (Edinb) 2019; 123:337-348. [PMID: 30837668 PMCID: PMC6781159 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-019-0203-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Revised: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 02/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is responsible for the regulation of corticosterone, a hormone that is essential in the mediation of energy allocation and physiological stress. As a continuous source of challenge and stress for organisms, the environment has promoted the evolution of physiological adaptations and led to a great variation in corticosterone profiles within or among individuals, populations and species. In order to evolve via natural selection, corticosterone levels do not only depend on the strength of selection exerted on them, but also on the extent to which the regulation of corticosterone is heritable. Nevertheless, the heritability of corticosterone profiles in wild populations is still poorly understood. In this study, we estimated the heritability of baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels in barn owl (Tyto alba) nestlings from 8 years of data, using a multivariate animal model based on a behavioural pedigree. We found that baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels are strongly genetically correlated (r = 0.68-0.80) and that the heritability of stress-induced corticosterone levels (h2 = 0.24-0.33) was moderate and similar to the heritability of baseline corticosterone levels (h2 = 0.19-0.30). These findings suggest that the regulation of stress-induced corticosterone and baseline levels evolves at a similar pace when selection acts with the same intensity on both traits and that contrary to previous studies, the evolution of baseline and stress-induced level is interdependent in barn owls, as they may be strongly genetically correlated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Béziers
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland.
| | - Luis M San-Jose
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Lukas Jenni
- Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland
| | - Alexandre Roulin
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Bosch J, Mestre J, Baiges C, Martínez JE, Calvo JF, Jiménez‐Franco MV. Colour plumage polymorphism in the Booted Eagle: inheritance pattern and temporal stability of the morph frequencies. J Zool (1987) 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J. Bosch
- Cra. de Navarcles 43, Santpedor Barcelona Spain
| | - J. Mestre
- Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat Parc Natural dels Ports Tarragona Spain
| | - C. Baiges
- Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat Parc Natural dels Ports Tarragona Spain
| | - J. E. Martínez
- Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología Universidad de Murcia Murcia Spain
- Bonelli′s Eagle Study and Conservation Group Murcia Spain
| | - J. F. Calvo
- Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología Universidad de Murcia Murcia Spain
| | - M. V. Jiménez‐Franco
- Departamento de Biología Aplicada Universidad Miguel Hernández Elche, Alicante Spain
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Ross KG, Shoemaker D. Unexpected patterns of segregation distortion at a selfish supergene in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. BMC Genet 2018; 19:101. [PMID: 30404617 PMCID: PMC6223060 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-018-0685-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2018] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Sb supergene in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta determines the form of colony social organization, with colonies whose inhabitants bear the element containing multiple reproductive queens and colonies lacking it containing only a single queen. Several features of this supergene - including suppressed recombination, presence of deleterious mutations, association with a large centromere, and "green-beard" behavior - suggest that it may be a selfish genetic element that engages in transmission ratio distortion (TRD), defined as significant departures in progeny allele frequencies from Mendelian inheritance ratios. We tested this possibility by surveying segregation ratios in embryo progenies of 101 queens of the "polygyne" social form (3512 embryos) using three supergene-linked markers and twelve markers outside the supergene. RESULTS Significant departures from Mendelian ratios were observed at the supergene loci in 3-5 times more progenies than expected in the absence of TRD and than found, on average, among non-supergene loci. Also, supergene loci displayed the greatest mean deviations from Mendelian ratios among all study loci, although these typically were modest. A surprising feature of the observed inter-progeny variation in TRD was that significant deviations involved not only excesses of supergene alleles but also similarly frequent excesses of the alternate alleles on the homologous chromosome. As expected given the common occurrence of such "drive reversal" in this system, alleles associated with the supergene gain no consistent transmission advantage over their alternate alleles at the population level. Finally, we observed low levels of recombination and incomplete gametic disequilibrium across the supergene, including between adjacent markers within a single inversion. CONCLUSIONS Our data confirm the prediction that the Sb supergene is a selfish genetic element capable of biasing its own transmission during reproduction, yet counterselection for suppressor loci evidently has produced an evolutionary stalemate in TRD between the variant homologous haplotypes on the "social chromosome". Evidence implicates prezygotic segregation distortion as responsible for the TRD we document, with "true" meiotic drive the most likely mechanism. Low levels of recombination and incomplete gametic disequilibrium across the supergene suggest that selection does not preserve a single uniform supergene haplotype responsible for inducing polygyny.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth G. Ross
- Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA USA
| | - DeWayne Shoemaker
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Female-biased dispersal and non-random gene flow of MC1R variants do not result in a migration load in barn owls. Heredity (Edinb) 2018; 122:305-314. [PMID: 30006569 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-018-0115-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Revised: 06/18/2018] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-random gene flow is a widely neglected force in evolution and ecology. This genotype-dependent dispersal is difficult to assess, yet can impact the genetic variation of natural populations and their fitness. In this work, we demonstrate a high immigration rate of barn owls (Tyto alba) inside a Swiss population surveyed during 15 years. Using ten microsatellite loci as an indirect method to characterize dispersal, two-third of the genetic tests failed to detect a female-biased dispersal, and Monte Carlo simulations confirmed a low statistical power to detect sex-biased dispersal in case of high dispersal rate of both sexes. The capture-recapture data revealed a female-biased dispersal associated with an excess of heterozygote for the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R), which is responsible for their ventral rufous coloration. Thus, female homozygotes for the MC1RWHITE allele might be negatively selected during dispersal. Despite the higher immigration of females that are heterozygote at MC1R, non-random gene flow should not lead to a migration load regarding this gene because we did not detect an effect of MC1R on survival and reproductive success in our local population. The present study highlights the usefulness of using multiple methods to correctly decrypt dispersal and gene flow. Moreover, despite theoretical expectations, we show that non-random dispersal of particular genotypes does not necessarily lead to migration load in recipient populations.
Collapse
|
7
|
San-Jose LM, Ducret V, Ducrest AL, Simon C, Roulin A. Beyond mean allelic effects: A locus at the major color gene MC1R associates also with differing levels of phenotypic and genetic (co)variance for coloration in barn owls. Evolution 2017; 71:2469-2483. [PMID: 28861897 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Revised: 08/09/2017] [Accepted: 08/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The mean phenotypic effects of a discovered variant help to predict major aspects of the evolution and inheritance of a phenotype. However, differences in the phenotypic variance associated to distinct genotypes are often overlooked despite being suggestive of processes that largely influence phenotypic evolution, such as interactions between the genotypes with the environment or the genetic background. We present empirical evidence for a mutation at the melanocortin-1-receptor gene, a major vertebrate coloration gene, affecting phenotypic variance in the barn owl, Tyto alba. The white MC1R allele, which associates with whiter plumage coloration, also associates with a pronounced phenotypic and additive genetic variance for distinct color traits. Contrarily, the rufous allele, associated with a rufous coloration, relates to a lower phenotypic and additive genetic variance, suggesting that this allele may be epistatic over other color loci. Variance differences between genotypes entailed differences in the strength of phenotypic and genetic associations between color traits, suggesting that differences in variance also alter the level of integration between traits. This study highlights that addressing variance differences of genotypes in wild populations provides interesting new insights into the evolutionary mechanisms and the genetic architecture underlying the phenotype.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luis M San-Jose
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Valérie Ducret
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Anne-Lyse Ducrest
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Céline Simon
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Alexandre Roulin
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Béziers P, Ducrest AL, Simon C, Roulin A. Circulating testosterone and feather-gene expression of receptors and metabolic enzymes in relation to melanin-based colouration in the barn owl. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2017; 250:36-45. [PMID: 28457648 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2017.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2016] [Revised: 03/11/2017] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Knowledge of how and why secondary sexual characters are associated with sex hormones is important to understand their signalling function. Such a link can occur if i) testosterone participates in the elaboration of sex-traits, ii) the display of an ornament triggers behavioural response in conspecifics that induce a rise in testosterone, or iii) genes implicated in the elaboration of a sex-trait pleiotropically regulate testosterone physiology. To evaluate the origin of the co-variation between melanism and testosterone, we measured this hormone and the expression of enzymes involved in its metabolism in feathers of barn owl (Tyto alba) nestlings at the time of melanogenesis and in adults outside the period of melanogenesis. Male nestlings displaying smaller black feather spots had higher levels of circulating testosterone, potentially suggesting that testosterone could block the production of eumelanin pigments, or that genes involved in the production of small spots pleiotropically regulate testosterone production. In contrast, the enzyme 5α-reductase, that metabolizes testosterone to DHT, was more expressed in feathers of reddish-brown than light-reddish nestlings. This is consistent with the hypothesis that testosterone might be involved in the expression of reddish-brown pheomelanic pigments. In breeding adults, male barn owls displaying smaller black spots had higher levels of circulating testosterone, whereas in females the opposite result was detected during the rearing period, but not during incubation. The observed sex- and age-specific co-variations between black spottiness and testosterone in nestling and adult barn owls may not result from testosterone-dependent melanogenesis, but from melanogenic genes pleiotropically regulating testosterone, or from colour-specific life history strategies that influence testosterone levels.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Béziers
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Anne-Lyse Ducrest
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Céline Simon
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Alexandre Roulin
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Responsiveness to siblings’ need increases with age in vocally negotiating barn owl nestlings. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2342-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|