ArticleOecologia2018
Solar and terrestrial radiations explain continental-scale variation in bird pigmentation.
Article in Oecologia, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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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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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Photobleaching shapes the expression of plumage phenotypes.Biology open · 2026Article
- Pigment contribution to feather mass depends on melanin form and is restricted to approximately 25.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Feather macrostructure is marginally correlated with temperature range but not urbanization across California.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Effect of enhanced UV-B radiation on growth and photosynthetic physiology of Iris tectorum maxim.Photosynthesis research · 2022Article
- Article
- The effects of climate change on floral anthocyanin polymorphisms.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 8 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Animals living on the earth's surface are protected from the damaging effects of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation by melanin pigments that color their integument. UV levels that reach the earth's surface vary spatially, but the role of UV exposure in shaping clinal variations in animal pigmentation has never been tested. Here, we show at a continental scale in Europe that golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos reared in territories with a high solar UV-B radiation exposure deposit lower amounts of the sulphurated form of melanin (pheomelanin) in feathers and consequently develop darker plumage phenotypes than eagles from territories with lower radiation exposure. This clinal variation in pigmentation is also explained by terrestrial γ radiation levels in the rearing territories by a similar effect on the pheomelanin content of feathers, unveiling natural radioactivity as a previously unsuspected factor shaping animal pigmentation. These findings show for the first time the potential of solar and terrestrial radiations to explain pigmentation phenotype diversity in animals, including humans, at large spatial scales.
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Registered trials
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