Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes
Species that seasonally moult from brown to white to match snowy backgrounds become conspicuous and experience increased predation risk as snow cover duration declines. Long-term adaptation to camouflage mismatch in a changing climate might occur through phenotypic plasticity in colour moult phenolo...
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Online Access: | https://elib.dlr.de/190405/ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 |
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ftdlr:oai:elib.dlr.de:190405 2023-05-15T14:25:32+02:00 Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes Zimova, Marketa Moberg, Dick Mills, Scott L Dietz, Andreas Angerbjörn, Anders 2022-10-20 https://elib.dlr.de/190405/ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 unknown The Royal Society Zimova, Marketa und Moberg, Dick und Mills, Scott L und Dietz, Andreas und Angerbjörn, Anders (2022) Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes. Biology Letters, 18, Seiten 1-6. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 <https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334>. ISSN 1744-9561. Dynamik der Landoberfläche Zeitschriftenbeitrag PeerReviewed 2022 ftdlr https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 2022-11-28T00:13:43Z Species that seasonally moult from brown to white to match snowy backgrounds become conspicuous and experience increased predation risk as snow cover duration declines. Long-term adaptation to camouflage mismatch in a changing climate might occur through phenotypic plasticity in colour moult phenology and or evolutionary shifts in moult rate or timing. Also, adaptation may include evolutionary shifts towards winter brown phenotypes that forgo the winter white moult. Most studies of these processes have occurred in winter white populations, with little attention to polymorphic populations with sympatric winter brown and winter white morphs. Here, we used remote camera traps to record moult phenology and mismatch in two polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes in Sweden over 2 years. We found that the colder, more northern population moulted earlier in the autumn and later in the spring. Next, foxes moulted earlier in the autumn and later in the spring during colder and snowier years. Finally, white foxes experienced relatively low camouflage mismatch while blue foxes were mismatched against snowy backgrounds most of the autumn through the spring. Because the brown-on-white mismatch imposes no evident costs, we predict that as snow duration decreases, increasing blue morph frequencies might help facilitate species persistence. Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library Arctic Biology Letters 18 11 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library |
op_collection_id |
ftdlr |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Dynamik der Landoberfläche |
spellingShingle |
Dynamik der Landoberfläche Zimova, Marketa Moberg, Dick Mills, Scott L Dietz, Andreas Angerbjörn, Anders Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes |
topic_facet |
Dynamik der Landoberfläche |
description |
Species that seasonally moult from brown to white to match snowy backgrounds become conspicuous and experience increased predation risk as snow cover duration declines. Long-term adaptation to camouflage mismatch in a changing climate might occur through phenotypic plasticity in colour moult phenology and or evolutionary shifts in moult rate or timing. Also, adaptation may include evolutionary shifts towards winter brown phenotypes that forgo the winter white moult. Most studies of these processes have occurred in winter white populations, with little attention to polymorphic populations with sympatric winter brown and winter white morphs. Here, we used remote camera traps to record moult phenology and mismatch in two polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes in Sweden over 2 years. We found that the colder, more northern population moulted earlier in the autumn and later in the spring. Next, foxes moulted earlier in the autumn and later in the spring during colder and snowier years. Finally, white foxes experienced relatively low camouflage mismatch while blue foxes were mismatched against snowy backgrounds most of the autumn through the spring. Because the brown-on-white mismatch imposes no evident costs, we predict that as snow duration decreases, increasing blue morph frequencies might help facilitate species persistence. |
format |
Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zimova, Marketa Moberg, Dick Mills, Scott L Dietz, Andreas Angerbjörn, Anders |
author_facet |
Zimova, Marketa Moberg, Dick Mills, Scott L Dietz, Andreas Angerbjörn, Anders |
author_sort |
Zimova, Marketa |
title |
Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes |
title_short |
Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes |
title_full |
Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes |
title_fullStr |
Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes |
title_sort |
colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of arctic foxes |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://elib.dlr.de/190405/ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic |
op_relation |
Zimova, Marketa und Moberg, Dick und Mills, Scott L und Dietz, Andreas und Angerbjörn, Anders (2022) Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes. Biology Letters, 18, Seiten 1-6. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 <https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334>. ISSN 1744-9561. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
11 |
_version_ |
1766297977222070272 |