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Phaeomelanin- and carotenoid-based pigmentation reflect oxidative status in two populations of the yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia)

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Abstract

Carotenoid- and phaeomelanin-based sexual pigmentation may signal a capacity to maintain oxidative balance and viability. However, diverse empirical results leave the association between pigmentation and oxidative stress (OS) unclear. We assessed the hypothesis that population-specific levels of oxidative challenge, or strategies for managing OS, affect relationships between sexual pigmentation and OS. Specifically, intense oxidative challenge in migratory, temperate breeding birds might enhance correlations between pigmentation and OS relative to allied tropical breeders, since quality-based differences in OS may arise only under intense oxidative challenge. Alternatively, in temperate breeders with intense within-season reproductive effort, high-quality birds may invest in reproduction over oxidative balance, dampening negative correlations between pigmentation and OS. To assess these alternatives, we compared prenesting relationships between pigmentation and OS in a migratory, Californian population of yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia brewsteri) and in a resident, Mexican population (Setophaga petechia bryanti, “mangrove warblers”). Yellow warblers displayed higher OS than mangrove warblers. However, year of capture and sex had bigger influences on correlations between pigmentation and OS than population. Males with more intense melanin pigmentation had lower OS among mangrove warblers and yellow warblers captured in 2011, but not among yellow warblers captured in 2012. In females only, lower OS levels were associated with more colorful carotenoid pigmentation. Results suggest that both phaeomelanin- and carotenoid-based pigmentation have the potential to correlate with OS levels, but that the signaling potential of pigmentation may shift with inter-annual variation in environmental conditions and display sex-specific dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL) and the Celestún field station of Ducks Unlimited Mexico (DUMAC) for providing facilities and access to field sites. Stephen J. Myers provided invaluable support by sponsoring the bird-banding subpermit (United States Geological Survey) essential to avian research in California. Jesús Vargas-Soriano (University of Campeche) provided critical field assistance, and David Costantini provided helpful advice on performing laboratory assays. Thanks also to Marlene Zuk, Daphne Fairbairn, Derek Roff and two anonymous reviewers for comments that aided in improving the manuscript. A National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant to JTR and ASG, Sigma Xi, the University of California Natural Reserve System (Mildred E. Mathias Research Grant), and the Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve provided funding.

Ethical standards and conflicts of interest

We conducted all procedures described in this manuscript in accordance with rigorous ethical and legal standards, and the University of California, Riverside’s institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved all methods. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Andrea S. Grunst, John T. Rotenberry & Melissa L. Grunst

  2. Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán, 58030, Mexico

    Javier Salgado-Ortiz

  3. College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    John T. Rotenberry

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  1. Andrea S. Grunst
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Correspondence to Andrea S. Grunst.

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Communicated by K. McGraw

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Grunst, A.S., Salgado-Ortiz, J., Rotenberry, J.T. et al. Phaeomelanin- and carotenoid-based pigmentation reflect oxidative status in two populations of the yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68, 669–680 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1681-8

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