Open AccessReflectance variation in the blue tit crown in relation to feather structure
Author(s) -
Gergely Hegyi,
Miklós Laczi,
Dóra Kötél,
Tamás Csizmadia,
Péter Lôw,
Balázs Rosivall,
Eszter Szöllősi,
János Török
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of experimental biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1477-9145
pISSN - 0022-0949
DOI - 10.1242/jeb.176727
Subject(s) - plumage , reflectivity , feather , biology , crown (dentistry) , ecology , optics , materials science , physics , composite material
Structural plumage colour is one of the most enigmatic sexually selected traits. The information content of structural colour variation is debated and the heterogeneity of the findings is hard to explain because the proximate background of within-species colour differences is very scarcely studied. We combined measurements of feather macrostructure and nanostructure to explain within-population variability in blue tit crown reflectance. We found that sexual dichromatism in aspects of crown reflectance was explained only by feather macrostructure, while nanostructural predictors accounted for some of the age-related differences of reflectance. Moreover, we found that both mean reflectance and spectral shape traits reflected a combination of quantity and regularity aspects in macro- and nanostructure. This rich proximate background provides ample scope for reflectance to convey various types of information on individual quality.