ArticleNature ecology & evolution2019
Differential fitness effects of moonlight on plumage colour morphs in barn owls.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2019. 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.
- Experimental noise and light pollution alter prey detection in a nocturnal bird of prey.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Lifetime Fitness Variation Across the Geographical Range in a Colour Polymorphic Species.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Nocturnal camouflage through background matching against moonlight.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Too big to purge: persistence of deleterious Mutations in Island populations of the European Barn Owl (Tyto alba).Heredity · 2024Article
- Article
- The genomic architecture of continuous plumage colour variation in the European barn owl (Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Camouflage efficiency in a colour-polymorphic predator is dependent on environmental variation and snow presence in the wild.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Evaluating the effects of moonlight on the vertical flight profiles of three western palaearctic swifts.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- Prospecting movements link phenotypic traits to female annual potential fitness in a nocturnal predator.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Density-dependent selection and the maintenance of colour polymorphism in barn owls.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Home range size and habitat quality affect breeding success but not parental investment in barn owl males.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Behaviour-specific habitat selection patterns of breeding barn owls.Movement ecology · 2021Article
- Article
- Sheep in wolves' clothing: prey rely on proactive defences when predator and non-predator cues are similar.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Lunar synchronization of daily activity patterns in a crepuscular avian insectivore.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Female-female aggression and male responses to the two colour morphs of female common cuckoos.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2020Article
- New genome assembly of the barn owl (Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Gray plumage color is more cryptic than brown in snowy landscapes in a resident color polymorphic bird.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- High moon brightness and low ambient temperatures affect sloth predation by harpy eagles.PeerJ · 2020Article
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Abstract
The Moon cycle exposes nocturnal life to variation in environmental light. However, whether moonlight shapes the fitness of nocturnal species with distinct colour variants remains unknown. Combining data from long-term monitoring, high-resolution global positioning system tracking and experiments using prey, we show that barn owls (Tyto alba) with distinct plumage colourations are differently affected by moonlight. The reddest owls are less successful at hunting and providing food to their offspring during moonlit nights, which associates with lower body mass and lower survival of the youngest nestlings and with female mates starting to lay eggs at low moonlight levels. Although moonlight should make white owls more conspicuous to prey, it either positively affects or does not affect the hunting and fitness of the whitest owls. We experimentally show that, under full-moon conditions, white plumage triggers longer freezing times in prey, which should facilitate prey catchability. We propose that the barn owl's white plumage, a rare trait among nocturnal predators, exploits the known aversion of rodents to bright light, explaining why, counterintuitively, moonlight has a lesser impact on the whitest owls. Our study provides evidence for the long-suspected influence of the Moon on the evolution of colouration in nocturnal species, highlighting the importance of colour in nocturnal ecosystems.
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