TY - JOUR

T1 - Feather growth and quality across passerines is explained by breeding rather than moulting latitude

AU - Horak, Kryštof

AU - Bobek, Lukaš

AU - Adamkova, Marie

AU - Kauzál, Ondřej

AU - Kauzalova, Tereza

AU - Manialeu, Judith Pouadjeu

AU - Nguelefack, Télesphore Benoît

AU - Nana, Eric Djomo

AU - Jønsson, Knud Andreas

AU - Munclinger, Pavel

AU - Hořák, David

AU - Sedláček, Ondřej

AU - Tomášek, Oldřich

AU - Albrecht, Tomáš

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Tropical bird species are characterized by a comparatively slow pace of life, being predictably different from their temperate zone counterparts in their investments in growth, survival and reproduction. In birds, the development of functional plumage is often considered energetically demanding investment, with consequences on individual fitness and survival. However, current knowledge of interspecific variation in feather growth patterns is mostly based on species of the northern temperate zone. We evaluated patterns in tail feather growth rates (FGR) and feather quality (stress-induced fault bar occurrence; FBO), using 1518 individuals of 167 species and 39 passerine families inhabiting Afrotropical and northern temperate zones. We detected a clear difference in feather traits between species breeding in the temperate and tropical zones, with the latter having significantly slower FGR and three times higher FBO. Moreover, trans-Saharan latitudinal migrants resembled temperate zone residents in that they exhibited a comparatively fast FGR and low FBO, despite sharing moulting environments with tropical species. Our results reveal convergent latitudinal shifts in feather growth investments (latitudinal syndrome) across unrelated passerine families and underscore the importance of breeding latitude in determining cross-species variation in key avian life-history traits.

AB - Tropical bird species are characterized by a comparatively slow pace of life, being predictably different from their temperate zone counterparts in their investments in growth, survival and reproduction. In birds, the development of functional plumage is often considered energetically demanding investment, with consequences on individual fitness and survival. However, current knowledge of interspecific variation in feather growth patterns is mostly based on species of the northern temperate zone. We evaluated patterns in tail feather growth rates (FGR) and feather quality (stress-induced fault bar occurrence; FBO), using 1518 individuals of 167 species and 39 passerine families inhabiting Afrotropical and northern temperate zones. We detected a clear difference in feather traits between species breeding in the temperate and tropical zones, with the latter having significantly slower FGR and three times higher FBO. Moreover, trans-Saharan latitudinal migrants resembled temperate zone residents in that they exhibited a comparatively fast FGR and low FBO, despite sharing moulting environments with tropical species. Our results reveal convergent latitudinal shifts in feather growth investments (latitudinal syndrome) across unrelated passerine families and underscore the importance of breeding latitude in determining cross-species variation in key avian life-history traits.

KW - comparative analysis

KW - fault bars

KW - life-history

KW - long-distance migration

KW - pace-of-life syndromes

KW - ptilochronology

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2021.2404

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2021.2404

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35259984

AN - SCOPUS:85126078534

VL - 289

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8452

IS - 1970

M1 - 20212404

ER -