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- Andersson, Staffan, 1959, et al.
(författare)
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Quantifying Colors
- 2006
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Ingår i: Bird Coloration, Vol. 1: Mechanisms and measurements (Hill GE & McGraw KJ, eds). - Cambridge, USA : Harvard University Press. - 9780674018938 ; , s. 41-89
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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- Isaksson, Caroline, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Sex and age differences in reflectance and biochemistry of carotenoid-based colour variation in the great tit Parus major
- 2008
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Ingår i: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0024-4066 .- 1095-8312. ; 95:4, s. 758-765
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The plumage coloration in great tits (Parus major) is the subject of much behavioural and ecophysiological research, yet there is a lack of analyses of the natural colour variation and its mechanisms. We used reflectance spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography to explore individual, sexual and age-related variation in carotenoid coloration and pigmentation, paramount to the often presumed, but rarely substantiated, costs and 'honesty' of carotenoid displays. In adults, we found that sex was the strongest predictor of 'brightness' (higher in males) and of 'hue' (longer wavelength in females). There was no sex difference in 'carotenoid chroma' or carotenoid content of feathers which also was unrelated to adult age (1 or 2+ years) and condition. Similar patterns were revealed for nestlings. Regarding the biochemical 'signal content', 'carotenoid chroma', but not 'hue', was significantly related to the carotenoid content (lutein and zeaxanthin) of feathers. These results refute the previously assumed exaggeration of carotenoid pigmentation in male great tits, and question the condition-dependence of carotenoid coloration in this species. However, the sexual dimorphism in total reflectance or 'brightness', most likely due to melanins rather than carotenoids, may have implications for signalling or other adaptive explanations that need to be explored.
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- Isaksson, Caroline, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Sexual, seasonal, and environmental variation in plasma carotenoids in great tits, Parus major
- 2007
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Ingår i: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0024-4066 .- 1095-8312. ; 92:3, s. 521-527
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many birds, carotenoids have dual functions as irreversible plumage pigments and as physiologically essential vitamins and antioxidants. They must be obtained through the diet and may therefore be a limiting resource, a constraint that is likely to vary with factors such as sex, habitat, and time of year. In the present study, we investigated signs of carotenoid limitation in great tits, Parus major, in relation to sex, season, year, and within an urban versus a rural habitat. The two main carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography in the plasma and in the yellow carotenoid-based breast feathers. We found that plasma carotenoid concentrations were significantly influenced by sex, season, and year, but not by urban versus rural habitat. At moult, plasma concentration was positively correlated with feather pigmentation, independent of body condition and sex. During the breeding season, however, circulating carotenoid concentrations were negatively related to the feather pigmentation (i.e. from previous autumn moult). We suggest that great tits are carotenoid deprived before leaf emergence, and that carotenoid utilization and limitations are sex-specific, but that there are neither any obvious honesty-maintaining costs of pigmentation, nor any fitness consequences of the colour variation.
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- Pointer, M. A., et al.
(författare)
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A novel method for screening a vertebrate transcriptome for genes involved in carotenoid binding and metabolism
- 2012
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 12:1, s. 149-159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Carotenoid-based colour signals are widespread in the animal kingdom and common textbook examples of sexually selected traits. Carotenoid pigments must be obtained through the diet as all animals lack the enzymatic machinery necessary to synthesize them from scratch. Once ingested, carotenoids are metabolized, stored, transported and deposited, and some or all of these processes may be limiting for signal production and thus subjected to social or sexual selection on phenotypic coloration. Very little is known about which genes and physiological pathways are involved in carotenoid pigmentation which is unfortunate, as genetic information would allow us to investigate the biochemical consequences of sexual selection. In this study, we present a transcriptome-screening technique and apply it to a carotenoid-signalling bird species, the southern red bishop Euplectes orix, to uncover the gene(s) responsible for the conversion of dietary beta-carotene (orange) to canthaxanthin (bright red). The transcriptome, extracted from the liver of a male entering his breeding moult, is expressed within bacterial cells genetically modified to synthesize beta-carotene. Effects of expressed E. orix proteins on the structure or amount of beta-carotene are initially detected by eye (based on colour change) and subsequently confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Here, we demonstrate the validity of the technique and provide a list of candidate genes involved in the carotenoid pigmentation pathway. We believe that this method could be applied to other species and tissues and that this may help researchers uncover the genetic basis of carotenoid coloration in vertebrates.
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- Prager, Maria, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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A molecular phylogeny of the African widowbirds and bishops, Euplectes spp. (Aves: Passeridae: Ploceinae)
- 2008
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Ingår i: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 1055-7903 .- 1095-9513. ; 46:1, s. 290-302
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The elaborate male displays and plumage ornaments in the African widowbirds and bishops (Euplectes spp.) have inspired classic studies on mating systems and sexual selection. In order to study the extreme divergence in ornament design and expression in this group, we present and discuss a well-supported molecular phylogeny of the genus and its placement within the Ploceinae subfamily. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses were performed on 2557 bp of mitochondrial DNA (ATP6, Cyt b, ND2 and ND3) and a nuclear intron (G3PDH). All 17 Euplectes species, and 31 of 51 suggested subspecies, were included, as well as eight Ploceinae outgroups from four genera (Amblyospiza, Ploceus, Quelea and Foudia). Our results show monophyly of Euplectes, but not of the intrageneric groupings of bishops and widowbirds. Most notably, the Red-collared Widowbird E. ardens belongs to a subclade of bishops, and not to the sister subclade of ‘true’ widowbirds. Furthermore, the two bishops E. afer and E. aureus represent lineages that branched off before this basal split, which also refutes the proposed superspecies of E. afer and E. diadematus. Also somewhat surprisingly, and despite the striking plumage similarities among the red bishops, E. franciscanus is not closely related to either E. nigroventris or E. orix (of which it until recently was considered a subspecies). Finally, the Mountain Marsh Widowbird E. psammocromius is likely closest to the Long-tailed Widowbird E. progne, and not, as previously thought, to the Marsh Widowbird E. hartlaubi.
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- Prager, Maria, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Convergent evolution of red carotenoid coloration in widowbirds and bishops (Euplectes spp.)
- 2010
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Ingår i: Evolution. - 0014-3820. ; 64:12, s. 3609-3619
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Avian carotenoid-based signals are classic examples of sexually selected, condition-dependent threat displays or mate choice cues. In many species, male dominance or mating success is associated with redder (i.e., longer wavelength) color hues, suggesting that red colors are either more efficient or more reliable signals than yellow colors. Few studies, however, have investigated selection for redness in a macroevolutionary context. Here, we phylogenetically reconstruct the evolution of carotenoid coloration in the African widowbirds and bishops (Euplectes spp.), for which agonistic selection for redder hues, as well as pigmentary mechanisms, is well documented. Using reflectance spectrometry for objective color quantification, and accounting for phylogenetic uncertainty, we find that yellow plumage color is a retained ancestral state in Euplectes, and that red color hues have convergently evolved two or three times. Results are discussed in relation to a known diversity in pigment mechanisms, supporting independent origins of red color, and suggesting that agonistic selection and physiological constraints have interacted to generate color diversity in Euplectes.
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