Feather microstructure predicts size and colour intensity of a melanin-based plumage signal

Abstract

Feather microstructure affects the light absorbed by plumage pigments. However, the effect of particular elements of feather microstructure on the expression of pigmentary colours or on the size of colour patches has never been investigated. Here I use a model of avian visual perception and scanning electron microscope imaging of feathers to show that part of variation in the size and colour properties of a melanin-based plumage signal of quality, the black breast stripe of great tits Parus major, is explained by three elements of feather microstructure (barbule density, barb cortex size and barb pith size). The strongest associations were between large stripes and low barbule density, between dark stripes and high barbule density, and between stripes with high relative long reflectance and high barbule density and thin barb cortex. By contrast, carotenoid-based colour was not related to microstructural elements. Thus, it is possible that not all variation in melanin-based colour is determined by melanin content, but also by feather microstructure. These findings should be considered by studies on the evolution of signals of quality.