Abstract
For birds, plumage color perception is critical in social interactions such as courtship, in both monochromatic and dichromatic species. In the Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata), perhaps the most abundant South American Columbiforme, the plumage of males and females looks alike and both sexes share the same melanistic coloration with gray and pink tones. The aim of this study was therefore to determine whether evident sexual dichromatism exists in the plumage of the Eared Dove using a spectrophotometry technique in the avian-visible range (300–700 nm). The results of the classic colorimetric variables analysis (hue, chroma and brightness) show that males are in general brighter and have higher UV chroma values than females. The avian visual model points to differences in achromatic and chromatic levels between males and females in body regions possibly involved in sexual selection (e.g. the crown). The model also indicates chromatic or achromatic differences in body regions not subject to sexual selection such as the black spots on the wing coverts and white tail bands, both of which may be involved in intra- or inter-gender-specific communication.
Highlights
Plumage color is of critical importance to birds since it is linked to intra- and inter-specific communication processes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
The reflectance spectra for the twelve body regions studied fell in the range of 300 to 700 nm (Fig 1)
The rest of the body regions studied showed no differences in hue and were brown-gray, black or white
Summary
Plumage color is of critical importance to birds since it is linked to intra- and inter-specific communication processes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. At the intra-specific level, coloration has been studied in relation to communication between the sexes (sexual selection), the female usually choosing males with the brightest or most colorful plumage [3, 5, 8,9,10,11,12]. Spectrophotometric Analysis of Plumage Color in the Eared Dove manuscript. None of these persons and institutions mentioned above had grants to cover publication costs
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