Free radical exposure creates paler carotenoid-based ornaments: a possible interaction in the expression of black and red traits.

ABSTRACT: Oxidative stress could be a key selective force shaping the expression of colored traits produced by the primary animal pigments in integuments: carotenoids and melanins. However, the impact of oxidative stress on melanic ornaments has only recently been explored, whereas its role in the expression of carotenoid-based traits is not fully understood. An interesting study case is that of those animal species simultaneously expressing both kinds of ornaments, such as the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa). In this bird, individuals exposed to an exogenous source of free radicals (diquat) during their development produced larger eumelanin-based (black) plumage traits than controls. Here, we show that the same red-legged partridges exposed to diquat simultaneously developed paler carotenoid-

SUBMITTER: Alonso-Alvarez C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3083443 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature