Bacterial degradability of white patches on primary feathers is associated with breeding date and parental effort in a migratory bird

© 2015 British Ornithologists' Union. We compared the in vitro bacterial degradability of the white patch and melanized area of primary feathers of breeding male and female Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypo-leuca and related this variation to laying date, brood size and brood mass. Bacterial degra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ruiz de Castañeda, Rafael, Burtt, E. H., González-Braojos, Sonia, Moreno Klemming, Juan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/123476
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/123476
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Feproductive effort
Unmelanized feather tracts
Feather-degrading bacteria
Breeding phenology
Descripción
Sumario:© 2015 British Ornithologists' Union. We compared the in vitro bacterial degradability of the white patch and melanized area of primary feathers of breeding male and female Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypo-leuca and related this variation to laying date, brood size and brood mass. Bacterial degradability of male and female white feather patches, but not of melanized areas, was positively correlated with laying date. Male Pied Flycatchers showed a positive correlation between bacterial degradability of the white patch, though not of the melanized patch, and brood size and brood mass. Feather degradability appears to be negatively related to individual quality and positively related to reproductive effort.