Premium
An avian equivalent of make‐up?
Author(s) -
Theunis Piersma,
M. Dekker,
J. Sinninghe Damsté,
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté,
Marcel M. Lambrechts
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1461-0248.1999.00078.x
Subject(s) - wax , plumage , arctic , ecology , the arctic , biology , geography , environmental science , oceanography , geology , biochemistry
We report that a long‐distance migrating shorebird, the red knot, makes a complete switch from commonly occurring monoester preen waxes to a much rarer class of higher‐molecular‐weight diester waxes at the time of take‐off to the high arctic breeding grounds. The cold arctic climate would have required a lowering of wax‐viscosity, and thus, a shift in the reverse direction. We propose that a sexually selected need for a brilliant plumage has lead to this conter‐intuitive temporary shift from monoesters to diester waxes. The difficulty of application of the diester preen waxes under cold conditions would ensure the reliability of the quality‐signalling function of this most probably sexually selected trait.