Open AccessMigratory behaviour affects the trade‐off between feather growth rate and feather quality in a passerine bird
Author(s) -
DE LA HERA IVÁN,
PÉREZTRIS JAVIER,
TELLERÍA JOSÉ LUIS
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
biological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.906
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1095-8312
pISSN - 0024-4066
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01189.x
Subject(s) - feather , passerine , plumage , moulting , biology , ecology , trade off , zoology , larva
Migratory birds have less time for moulting than sedentary birds, which may force them to produce their feathers faster at the expense of reducing feather quality. However, the effects of migration on the trade‐off between moult speed and plumage quality remain to be studied in natural populations. We analysed the relationship between growth rate and quality of individual feathers, taking advantage of natural variation between migratory and sedentary populations of blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla . As predicted by life‐history theory, individual blackcaps showed variable individual quality, which was revealed by positive correlations between feather growth rate and feather mass within populations. However, migrants grew up their feathers faster, producing lighter feathers than sedentary blackcaps. These results support the idea that feather growth rate and feather quality are traded against each other in blackcaps. Such a trade‐off is apparently caused by different selection associated to migratory and sedentary life styles, which opens new insights into the diversification of moult patterns in birds. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 97 , 98–105.