Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36854381›Full record

ArticleJournal of the Royal Society, Interface2023

How woodcocks produce the most brilliant white plumage patches among the birds.

Jamie Dunning, Anvay Patil, Liliana D'Alba, Alexander L Bond, Gerben Debruyn, Ali Dhinojwala, Matthew Shawkey, Lukas Jenni

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
6.1field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Nanopores in the ventral scales ofBiology letters · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Nocturnal camouflage through background matching against moonlight.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.

Jamie DunningDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8234-8526
Anvay PatilSchool of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2786-2623
Liliana D'AlbaDepartment of Biology, Evolution and Optics of Nanostructure Group, University of Ghent, Gent 9000, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-2478-3455
Alexander L BondBird Group, The Natural History Museum, Tring, UK.
Gerben DebruynDepartment of Biology, Evolution and Optics of Nanostructure Group, University of Ghent, Gent 9000, Belgium.
Ali DhinojwalaSchool of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3935-7467
Matthew ShawkeyDepartment of Biology, Evolution and Optics of Nanostructure Group, University of Ghent, Gent 9000, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-5131-8209
Lukas JenniSwiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland.
Ghent University · BEUniversity of Akron · USImperial College London · GBNatural History Museum · GBNaturalis Biodiversity Center · NLSwiss Ornithological Institute · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Until recently, and when compared with diurnal birds that use contrasting plumage patches and complex feather structures to convey visual information, communication in nocturnal and crepuscular species was considered to follow acoustic and chemical channels. However, many birds that are active in low-light environments have evolved intensely white plumage patches within otherwise inconspicuous plumages. We used spectrophotometry, electron microscopy, and optical modelling to explain the mechanisms producing bright white tail feather tips of the Eurasian woodcock

Indexed as

AsteraceaeCharadriiformesAnimalsBirdsCytoskeletonFeatherselectron microscopyfinite-difference time-domain modellingreflectanceScolopaxspectrophotometryvisual communication

Identifiers

PMID36854381
PMCPMC9974297
OpenAlexW4322618357

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.