Offspring plumage coloration as a condition-dependent signal in the blue tit.

ABSTRACT: In many species, offspring display conspicuous coloration already early in life, even though they might be very vulnerable to predation at this stage. However, most attention has been drawn to the conspicuous plumage displayed by adult individuals in a sexual context, while other signaling functions have been explored much less. Here, we investigated whether the yellow breast plumage of blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nestlings shows patterns of condition dependence and hence signals individual quality, as has been described for adult birds. During three consecutive breeding seasons, we, therefore, explored the association between nestling body mass and three color components of the yellow breast plumage (i.e., UV chroma, carotenoid chroma, and total brightness), considering both wit

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Campa J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9889846 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature