Integument coloration signals reproductive success, heterozygosity, and antioxidant levels in chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes.

• Published in: Naturwissenschaften
• Main Authors: Leclaire, Sarah, White, Joël, Arnoux, Emilie, Faivre, Bruno, Vetter, Nathanaël, Hatch, Scott A., Danchin, Etienne, G. J.
• Other Authors: Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biogéosciences UMR 6282 (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Alaska Science Center, United States Geological Survey Reston (USGS), Study financed in part by the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV, program 1162).
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: Beak coloration; Heterozygosity; Integument coloration; Carotenoid; Vitamin A; Retinol; Reproductive success; [SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Symbiosis; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; rissa tridactyla
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00618987; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0827-7

10 pages International audience Carotenoid pigments are important for immunity and as antioxidants, and carotenoid-based colors are believed to provide honest signals of individual quality. Other colorless but more efficient antioxidants such as vitamins A and E may protect carotenoids from bleaching. Carotenoid-based colors have thus recently been suggested to reflect the concentration of such colorless antioxidants, but this has rarely been tested. Furthermore, although evidence is accruing for multiple genetic criteria for mate choice, carotenoid-based colors have rarely been shown to reflect both phenotypic and genetic quality. In this study, we investigated whether gape, tongue, eye-ring, and bill coloration of chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla reflected circulating levels of carotenoids and vitamins A and E. We further investigated whether integument coloration reflected phenotypic (body condition and fledging success) and genetic quality (heterozygosity). We found that the coloration of fleshy integuments was correlated with carotenoid and vitamin A levels and fledging success but only in males. Furthermore, the coloration of tongue and eye-ring was correlated with heterozygosity in both males and females. Integument colors might therefore be reliable signals of individual quality used by birds to adjust their parental care during the chick-rearing period.