SynthesisNature communications2018
Carotenoid metabolism strengthens the link between feather coloration and individual quality.
Synthesis in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 220 citations in OpenAlex.
- Synthesis of Nature's Extravaganza: An Augmented Meta-Meta-Analysis on (Putative) Sexual Signals.Ecology letters · 2025Pooled it
- Ornaments are equally informative in male and female birds.Nature communications · 2022Pooled it
- Can correlational analyses help determine the drivers of microcystin occurrence in freshwater ecosystems? A meta-analysis of microcystin and associated water quality parameters.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2022Pooled it
- Colourful traits in female birds relate to individual condition, reproductive performance and male-mate preferences: a meta-analytic approach.Biology letters · 2021Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence for quantitative honesty in aposematic signals.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Pooled it
- Structural colours reflect individual quality: a meta-analysis.Biology letters · 2020Pooled it
- Prevalence of Toxocara and Toxascaris infection among human and animals in Iran with meta-analysis approach.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Pooled it
- Carotenoid metabolism strengthens the link between feather coloration and individual quality.Nature communications · 2018Pooled it
- Carotenoid-based ornaments predict survival in male but not female birds: A meta-analysis.iScience · 2026Article
- Review
- Lessons From Astaxanthin Therapy to Combat Oral Premalignant and Malignant Lesions: A Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Carotenoid bioavailability in humans reflects the mammalian nocturnal bottleneck: a position paper.Journal of clinical biochemistry and nutrition · 2026Article
- Forelimb stripe coloration signals age, but not physiological health, in painted turtles.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2026Article
- Evidence for the evolution of male and female cardinals' plumage colouration being affected by both natural and sexual selection.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Biochemical and Genomic Underpinnings of Carotenoid Colour Variation Across a Hybrid Zone Between South Asian Flameback Woodpeckers.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Fading on the beach: pigmentation plasticity adjusts coloration to substrate type in coastal Western spadefoot toads.Current zoology · 2025Article
- Bdh1l Gene Expression Is a Potential Molecular Factor in the Evolution of Carotenoid-Based Colour Diversity of Cichlid Fishes.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Latent preference for red ornamentation drives interspecific mating in nascent jumping spider species (Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Hidden white and black feather layers enhance plumage coloration in tanagers and other songbirds.Science advances · 2025Article
- Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae: Effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Thirty years of research has made carotenoid coloration a textbook example of an honest signal of individual quality, but tests of this idea are surprisingly inconsistent. Here, to investigate sources of this heterogeneity, we perform meta-analyses of published studies on the relationship between carotenoid-based feather coloration and measures of individual quality. To create color displays, animals use either carotenoids unchanged from dietary components or carotenoids that they biochemically convert before deposition. We hypothesize that converted carotenoids better reflect individual quality because of the physiological links between cellular function and carotenoid metabolism. We show that feather coloration is an honest signal of some, but not all, measures of quality. Where these relationships exist, we show that converted, but not dietary, carotenoid coloration drives the relationship. Our results have broad implications for understanding the evolutionary role of carotenoid coloration and the physiological mechanisms that maintain signal honesty of animal ornamental traits.
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Registered trials
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.