Abstract
The evolutionary history of many organisms is characterized by major changes in morphology and distribution. Specifically, alterations of body mass and geographic distribution may profoundly influence organismal life-history traits. Here, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of flight-feather molt strategy using data from 1,808 Neornithes species. Our analysis suggests that the ancestral molt strategy of first-year birds was partial or entirely absent, and that complete wing flight-feather molt in first-year birds first evolved in the late Eocene and Oligocene (25–40 Ma), at least 30 Myr after birds first evolved. Complete flight-feather molt occurred mainly at equatorial latitudes and in relatively low body mass species, following a diversification of body mass within the lineage. We conclude that both body mass and geographic distribution shaped the evolution of molt strategies and propose that the evolutionary transition towards complete juvenile molt in the Neornithes is a novel, relatively late adaptation.
Highlights
The evolutionary history of many organisms is characterized by major changes in morphology and distribution
We examine how the evolution of molt strategies is correlated with the evolution of body mass in modern birds, while considering their geographic distribution
In order to uncover the ecological and environmental conditions that affected the evolution of flight-feather molt strategies in first-year birds, we collected wing molt data from a total of 1,808 bird species
Summary
The evolutionary history of many organisms is characterized by major changes in morphology and distribution. Feather molt strategy, which includes the extent, timing, duration and sequence of the molt (as well as differences in these characteristics across age groups), is an important life-history process in the avian annual cycle, with important consequences for plumage attractiveness and camouflage as well as flight aerodynamics and t hermoregulation[7,8,9,10] Both geographic distribution and body size can substantially alter various ecological, physiological and phenological processes and may affect various life-history traits[11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. Molt duration, molt extent and the timing of molt within the annual cycle are strongly affected by the species’ spatio-temporal distribution, including its breeding and over-wintering latitudes and the length of its m igration[8,25,26]
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