Avian egg colour and sexual selection: does eggshell pigmentation reflect female condition and genetic quality?

By J. Moreno, J. Osorno. 2003

305 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4c4342037834ec0f8398bce27eb994d7b2540d28

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. J. Moreno
2. G. Tomás
3. S. Merino
4. J. Morales
5. K. McGraw
6. E. Lobato
7. J. Puente
8. J. Sanz

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. K. McGraw
2. J. Moreno
3. S. Merino
4. J. Morales
5. G. Tomás
6. E. Lobato
7. J. Puente
8. J. Sanz

Citations in the corpus

• Egg coloration is correlated with female condition in eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) (2006, background): “Condition-dependent egg coloration may be adaptive if males use egg coloration to make strategic decisions concerning paternal investment (Moreno and Osorno 2003), or if females use egg coloration to discriminate between their eggs and those laid by a conspecific brood parasite.”
• NEST WEIGHT AND FEMALE HEALTH IN THE BLUE TIT (CYANISTES CAERULEUS) (2006, background): “…a neglected topic in the study of sexual selection (Amundsen 2000), but increasing evidence is proving that it could be more widespread than previously believed, even when applied to ornaments external to the females themselves (Moreno and Osorno 2003; Moreno et al. 2004, 2005; Soler et al 2005).”
• Avian eggshell coloration: new perspectives on adaptive explanations (2010, background): “Moreno & Osorno (2003) raised a new hypothesis to explain blue–green egg coloration, interpreting it as a sexually selected signal to the male of the laying female’s genetic quality, aiming to induce a higher allocation of paternal care.”
• The antioxidant function of many animal pigments: are there consistent health benefits of sexually selected colourants? (2005, background): “Moreno & Osorno (2003) have also recently discussed the antioxidant properties of porphyrins as they relate to eggshell coloration and maternal quality in birds.”
• Experimental evidence that egg color indicates female condition at laying in a songbird (2006, background): “This application of sexual selection theory (Darwin 1871; Andersson 1994) to postmating investment is based on the crucial assumption that eggshell color is significantly associated to female condition, immunocompetence or stress (Moreno and Osorno 2003).”
• Egg colouration and male parental effort in the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca (2004, background): “Females could be signalling their own antioxidant capacity ( Moreno and Osorno 2003 ), and thereby offspring genetic quality.”
• Environmental conditions influence egg color of reed warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus and their parasite, the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus (2006, background): “Deposition of blue–green pigments in the eggshell may signal female capacity to control free radicals despite allocating antioxidants to eggshells (Moreno and Osorno 2003).”