ArticleDie Naturwissenschaften2011
An individual and a sex odor signature in kittiwakes?: study of the semiochemical composition of preen secretion and preen down feathers.
Article in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Past Colony Connectivity of a Declining Seabird Derived From Host-Parasite Genetic Data.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Effects of genotype, sex, and feed restriction on the biochemical composition of chicken preen gland secretions and their implications for commercial poultry production.Journal of animal science · 2023Article
- A pachyderm perfume: odour encodes identity and group membership in African elephants.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Songbird preen oil odour reflects haemosporidian parasite load.Animal behaviour · 2022Article
- Metabolic Profiling Reveals That the Olfactory Cues in the Duck Uropygial Gland Potentially Act as Sex Pheromones.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Microbial infection risk predicts antimicrobial potential of avian symbionts.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Microbially Mediated Chemical Ecology of Animals: A Review of Its Role in Conspecific Communication, Parasitism and Predation.Biology · 2021Review
- Female-Based Patterns and Social Function in Avian Chemical Communication.Journal of chemical ecology · 2021Review
- Individual Chemical Profiles in the Leach's Storm-Petrel.Journal of chemical ecology · 2020Article
- Wax Ester Composition of Songbird Preen Oil Varies Seasonally and Differs between Sexes, Ages, and Populations.Journal of chemical ecology · 2019Article
- Pigeon odor varies with experimental exposure to trace metal pollution.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2019Article
- Reduced population size does not affect the mating strategy of a vulnerable and endemic seabird.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2017Article
- Social odours covary with bacterial community in the anal secretions of wild meerkats.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Seasonal changes in the preen wax composition of the Herring gullChemoecology · 2017Article
- The perfume of reproduction in birds: chemosignaling in avian social life.Hormones and behavior · 2015Review
- Preen secretions encode information on MHC similarity in certain sex-dyads in a monogamous seabird.Scientific reports · 2014Article
- Variation in preen oil composition pertaining to season, sex, and genotype in the polymorphic white-throated sparrow.Journal of chemical ecology · 2014Article
- Uropygial gland size and composition varies according to experimentally modified microbiome in Great tits.BMC evolutionary biology · 2014Article
- Article
- Preen gland removal increases plumage bacterial load but not that of feather-degrading bacteria.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The importance of olfaction in birds' social behavior has long been denied. Avian chemical signaling has thus been relatively unexplored. The black-legged kittiwake provides a particularly appropriate model for investigating this topic. Kittiwakes preferentially mate with genetically dissimilar individuals, but the cues used to assess genetic characteristics remain unknown. As in other vertebrates, their body odors may carry individual and sexual signatures thus potentially reliably signaling individual genetic makeup. Here, we test whether body odors in preen gland secretion and preen down feathers in kittiwakes may provide a sex and an individual signature. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, we found that male and female odors differ quantitatively, suggesting that scent may be one of the multiple cues used by birds to discriminate between sexes. We further detected an individual signature in the volatile and nonvolatile fractions of preen secretion and preen down feathers. These results suggest that kittiwake body odor may function as a signal associated with mate recognition. It further suggests that preen odor might broadcast the genetic makeup of individuals, and could be used in mate choice to assess the genetic compatibility of potential mates.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.