Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Show: 20 | 50 | 100
Results 1 - 2 de 2
Filter
Add more filters










Database
Language
Publication year range
1.
J Evol Biol ; 24(7): 1584-97, 2011 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21585583

ABSTRACT

Avian plumage colours are some of the most conspicuous sexual ornaments, and yet standardized selection gradients for plumage colour have rarely been quantified. We examined patterns of fecundity selection on plumage colour in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus L.). When not accounting for environmental heterogeneity, we detected relatively few cases of selection. We found significant disruptive selection on adult male crown colour and yearling female chest colour and marginally nonsignificant positive linear selection on adult female crown colour. We discovered no new significant selection gradients with canonical rotation of the matrix of nonlinear selection. Next, using a long-term data set, we identified territory-level environmental variables that predicted fecundity to determine whether these variables influenced patterns of plumage selection. The first of these variables, the density of oaks within 50 m of the nest, influenced selection gradients only for yearling males. The second variable, an inverse function of nesting density, interacted with a subset of plumage selection gradients for yearling males and adult females, although the strength and direction of selection did not vary predictably with population density across these analyses. Overall, fecundity selection on plumage colour in blue tits appeared rare and inconsistent among sexes and age classes.


Subject(s)
Aging/physiology , Feathers/physiology , Passeriformes/physiology , Pigmentation/physiology , Sex Characteristics , Animals , Demography , Ecosystem , Female , Fertility , Male , Quercus
2.
Mol Ecol ; 16(22): 4867-80, 2007 Nov.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-17927702

ABSTRACT

In comparison with most animal behaviours, circadian rhythms have a well-characterized molecular genetic basis. Detailed studies of circadian clock genes in 'model' organisms provide a foundation for interpreting the functional and evolutionary significance of polymorphic circadian clock genes found within free-living animal populations. Here, we describe allelic variation in a region of the avian Clock orthologue which encodes a functionally significant polyglutamine repeat (ClkpolyQcds), within free-living populations of two passerine birds, the migratory bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) and the predominantly nonmigratory blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). Multiple ClkpolyQcds alleles were found within populations of both species (bluethroat: 12 populations, 7 alleles; blue tit: 14 populations, 9 alleles). Some populations of both species were differentiated at the ClkpolyQcds locus as measured by F(ST) and R(ST) values. Among the blue tit, but not bluethroat populations, we found evidence of latitudinal clines in (i) mean ClkpolyQcds repeat length, and (ii) the proportions of three ClkpolyQcds genotype groupings. Parallel analyses of microsatellite allele frequencies, which are considered to reflect selectively neutral processes, indicate that interpopulation allele frequency variation at the ClkpolyQcds and microsatellite loci does not reflect the same underlying demographic processes. The possibility that the observed interpopulation ClkpolyQcds allele frequency variation is, at least in part, maintained by selection for microevolutionary adaptation to photoperiodic parameters correlated with latitude warrants further study.


Subject(s)
Circadian Rhythm/genetics , Gene Frequency , Geography , Passeriformes/genetics , Polymorphism, Genetic , Trans-Activators/genetics , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , CLOCK Proteins , Microsatellite Repeats , Molecular Sequence Data , Sequence Alignment , Sexual Behavior, Animal , Trans-Activators/chemistry
SELECTION OF CITATIONS
SEARCH DETAIL
...