Open AccessSex‐ and age‐dependent morphology and selection on wing shape in the barn swallow Hirundo rustica
Author(s) -
Saino Nicola,
Rubolini Diego,
Ambrosini Roberto,
Romano Andrea,
Parolini Marco,
Canova Luca,
Corti Margherita,
Costanzo Alessandra
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of avian biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.022
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1600-048X
pISSN - 0908-8857
DOI - 10.1111/jav.01469
Subject(s) - wing , biology , hirundo , wing loading , selection (genetic algorithm) , barn , feather , zoology , disruptive selection , ecology , stabilizing selection , natural selection , evolutionary biology , genetic variation , genetics , civil engineering , artificial intelligence , angle of attack , computer science , gene , engineering , aerodynamics , aerospace engineering
Wings have evolved in phylogenetically distant organisms with morphologies that depend on the combined effects of diverse, potentially contrasting selective forces. In birds, long pointed wings boost speed and energetic efficiency during cruising flight but reduce manoeuvrability. Migratory behavior is believed to lead to the evolution of more pointed wings, but selection on pointedness has never been estimated. Because annual routines of migrants are tightly scheduled, wing pointedness may be selected for because it allows for earlier arrival to the breeding grounds. In long‐distance migratory barn swallows Hirundo rustica we showed that selection via breeding date and thus annual fecundity operates on wing pointedness, but not on other wing traits, among yearling females but not among older females or males. Selection on wing pointedness specifically in yearling females may result from climatic effects, which favour earlier arrival from migration, and from yearling females being the sex‐by‐age class with the latest migration and the smallest wing pointedness. Wing morphology differed between sexes and age classes because of change in size of the outermost but not the innermost wing feathers. Hence, sex‐ and age‐specific selection on wing pointedness operates in a species with sex‐ and age‐dependent variation in phenology and wing morphology.