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dc.contributor.authorDavidson, GL
dc.contributor.authorThornton, A
dc.contributor.authorClayton, NS
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-25T14:57:01Z
dc.date.issued2017-01-11
dc.description.abstractStrong selection pressures are known to act on animal coloration. Although many animals vary in eye colour, virtually no research has investigated the functional significance of these colour traits. Passeriformes have a range of iris colours, making them an ideal system to investigate how and why iris colour has evolved. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we tested the hypothesis that conspicuous iris colour in passerine birds evolved in response to (a) coordination of offspring care and (b) cavity nesting, two traits thought to be involved in intra-specific gaze sensitivity. We found that iris colour and cooperative offspring care by two or more individuals evolved independently, suggesting that bright eyes are not important for coordinating parental care through eye gaze. Furthermore, we found that evolution between iris colour and nesting behaviour did occur in a dependent manner, but contrary to predictions, transitions to coloured eyes were not more frequent in cavity nesters than non-cavity nesters. Instead, our results indicate that selection away from having bright eyes was much stronger in non-cavity nesters than cavity nesters, perhaps because conspicuous eye coloration in species not concealed within a cavity would be more visible to predators.en_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by the Zoology Balfour Fund (G.L.D.), the Cambridge Philosophical Society (G.L.D.) and a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to A.T. (BB/H021817/1).en_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 13 (1), article 20160783en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1098/rsbl.2016.0783
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/25397
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherThe Royal Societyen_GB
dc.rightsOpen access. © 2017 The Authors.Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
dc.subjectcolour evolutionen_GB
dc.subjectiris colouren_GB
dc.subjectbirdsen_GB
dc.subjectnestingen_GB
dc.subjectparental careen_GB
dc.subjectpasserinesen_GB
dc.titleEvolution of iris colour in relation to cavity nesting and parental care in passerine birdsen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.identifier.issn1744-9561
dc.descriptionThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Royal Society via the DOI in this record.en_GB
dc.identifier.journalBiology Lettersen_GB


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