IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v33y2022i3p494-503..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Made-up mouths with preen oil reveal genetic and phenotypic conditions of starling nestlings

Author

Listed:
  • Juan José Soler
  • Ester Martínez-Renau
  • Manuel Azcárate-García
  • Cristina Ruiz-Castellano
  • José Martín
  • Manuel Martín-Vivaldi

Abstract

Animal coloration results from pigments, nanostructures, or the cosmetic use of natural products, and plays a central role in social communication. The role of cosmetic coloration has traditionally been focused in scenarios of sexual selection, but it could also take place in other contexts. Here, by using spotless starlings (Sturnus unicolor) as a model system, we explore the possibility that nestlings cosmetically use their intensely yellow-colored uropygial secretion to signal their genetic and/or phenotypic quality. In agreement with the hypothetical cosmetic use of the uropygial secretion, (i) video recorded nestlings collected secretion with the bill at the age of feathering, (ii) cotton swabs turned to the color of secretion after rubbing with them nestlings’ gape, and (iii) gape and skin colorations correlated positively with that of secretion. Furthermore, we found that (iv) secretion coloration has a genetic component, and (v) associated positively with Vitamin E supplementation and (vi) with plasma carotenoid concentration, which highlights the informative value of nestling secretion. Finally, (vii) coloration of begging-related traits and of secretion of nestlings predicted parental feeding preferences. Consequently, all these results strongly suggest that the cosmetic use of colored uropygial secretion might also play a role in parent-offspring communication, complementing or amplifying information provided by the flamboyant colored gapes and skin of nestlings. The use of makeups by offspring for communication with relatives has been scarcely explored and we hope that these results will encourage further investigations in birds and other taxa with parental care.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan José Soler & Ester Martínez-Renau & Manuel Azcárate-García & Cristina Ruiz-Castellano & José Martín & Manuel Martín-Vivaldi, 2022. "Made-up mouths with preen oil reveal genetic and phenotypic conditions of starling nestlings," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 33(3), pages 494-503.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:33:y:2022:i:3:p:494-503.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arac024
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romain Piault & Julien Gasparini & Pierre Bize & Mariane Paulet & Kevin J. McGraw & Alexandre Roulin, 2008. "Experimental support for the makeup hypothesis in nestling tawny owls (Strix aluco)," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 19(4), pages 703-709.
    2. Rosa Mary de Ayala & Nicola Saino & Anders Pape Møller & Cecilia Anselmi, 2007. "Mouth coloration of nestlings covaries with offspring quality and influences parental feeding behavior," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 18(3), pages 526-534.
    3. Isabel López-Rull & Iluminada Pagán & Constantino Macías Garcia, 2010. "Cosmetic enhancement of signal coloration: experimental evidence in the house finch," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 21(4), pages 781-787.
    4. Juan Moreno & Elisa Lobato & Judith Morales & Santiago Merino & Gustavo Tomás & Josué Martínez-de la Puente & Juan J. Sanz & Rafael Mateo & Juan J. Soler, 2006. "Experimental evidence that egg color indicates female condition at laying in a songbird," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 17(4), pages 651-655, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Romano & Gaia Bazzi & Manuela Caprioli & Margherita Corti & Alessandra Costanzo & Diego Rubolini & Nicola Saino, 2016. "Nestling sex and plumage color predict food allocation by barn swallow parents," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 27(4), pages 1198-1205.
    2. J. Rajchard, 2010. "Biologically active substances of bird skin: a review," Veterinární medicína, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 55(9), pages 413-421.
    3. Mirre J P Simons & Alan A Cohen & Simon Verhulst, 2012. "What Does Carotenoid-Dependent Coloration Tell? Plasma Carotenoid Level Signals Immunocompetence and Oxidative Stress State in Birds–A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(8), pages 1-1, August.
    4. Gregorio Moreno-Rueda & Herbert Hoi, 2012. "Female house sparrows prefer big males with a large white wing bar and fewer feather holes caused by chewing lice," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(2), pages 271-277.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:33:y:2022:i:3:p:494-503.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.