Variation in insulative feather structure in songbirds replacing each other along a tropical elevation gradient.

ABSTRACT: High-elevation organisms are expected to evolve physiological adaptations to cope with harsh environmental conditions. Yet, evidence for such adaptive differences, especially compared to closely related lowland taxa occurring along the same elevational gradient, is rare. Revisiting an anecdotal natural history observation by O. Bangs from 1899 and based on new measurements of museum specimens, we confirmed that the high-elevation hermit wood wren (Henicorhina anachoreta) from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, has longer, more insulative feathers on the chest and back, than its lower-elevation counterpart the grey-breasted wood wren (H. leucophrys). However, we did not find evidence for the same specializations in subspecies of H. leucophrys that

SUBMITTER: Barve S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8928881 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature