ArticleDie Naturwissenschaften2009
Do feather-degrading bacteria affect sexually selected plumage color?
Article in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Host traits rather than migration and molting strategies explain feather bacterial load in Palearctic passerines.iScience · 2024Article
- Ornaments indicate parasite load only if they are dynamic or parasites are contagious.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- Article
- Fitness outcomes in relation to individual variation in constitutive innate immune function.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Experimental study of the effect of preen oil against feather bacteria in passerine birds.Oecologia · 2020Article
- Plumage iridescence is associated with distinct feather microbiota in a tropical passerine.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Recapture probability, flight morphology, and microorganisms.Current zoology · 2018Article
- Fungi, feather damage, and risk of predation.Ecology and evolution · 2017Article
- Toxic metals and associated sporulated bacteria on Andean hummingbird feathers.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2016Article
- Defenses against keratinolytic bacteria in birds living in radioactively contaminated areas.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2016Article
- Article
- Article
- Do feather-degrading bacteria actually degrade feather colour? No significant effects of plumage microbiome modifications on feather colouration in wild great tits.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2014Article
- Glycerophospholipid analysis of Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) hair by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.Journal of chemical ecology · 2014Article
- Eggshell bacterial load is related to antimicrobial properties of feathers lining barn swallow nests.Microbial ecology · 2014Article
- Preen gland removal increases plumage bacterial load but not that of feather-degrading bacteria.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2013Article
- Plumage bacterial assemblages in a breeding wild passerine: relationships with ecological factors and body condition.Microbial ecology · 2011Article
- Microorganisms associated with feathers of barn swallows in radioactively contaminated areas around chernobyl.Microbial ecology · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Models of parasite-mediated sexual selection propose that males with more elaborate sexual traits will have fewer parasites. These models have generally been tested using metazoan or protozoan parasites of the blood, gut, or integument. Fewer studies have examined sexual ornaments in relation to bacterial infections. While most surface bacteria are harmless or beneficial, feather-degrading bacteria may have detrimental effects. In this study, we examined the relationships between overall bacterial load, feather-degrading bacterial load, and sexually selected carotenoid-based plumage color in a wild population of house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus). We found that males with the redder plumage preferred by females had similar overall bacterial loads, but lower feather-degrading bacterial loads, than males with less red plumage. These data suggest that plumage color can signal abundance of feather-degrading bacteria to potential mates. It remains unclear whether feather-degrading bacteria directly or indirectly affect plumage color, but the observed correlations suggest that feather-degrading bacteria may play some role in sexual selection.
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Registered trials
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