Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions

Abstract Colour polymorphism may be maintained within a population by disruptive-selection. One hypothesis proposes that different morphs are adapted to different ambient light conditions, with lighter morphs having a selective advantage in bright conditions and darker morphs having advantages in da...

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Autores principales:	Gareth J Tate, Arjun Amar
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9a1f3e8359d74a88b65eb36962da26ac
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9a1f3e8359d74a88b65eb36962da26ac2021-12-02T11:52:20ZMorph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions10.1038/s41598-017-07829-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/9a1f3e8359d74a88b65eb36962da26ac2017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07829-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Colour polymorphism may be maintained within a population by disruptive-selection. One hypothesis proposes that different morphs are adapted to different ambient light conditions, with lighter morphs having a selective advantage in bright conditions and darker morphs having advantages in darker conditions. The mechanism for this advantage is proposed to be through enhanced crypsis via background-matching. We explore this hypothesis in a polymorphic raptor, the black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus, which exhibits a discrete dark and white-morph. We use GPS-tracking data to contrast the foraging behaviour and habitat selection of morphs. As predicted, we found that light-levels influenced foraging behaviour in different ways for morphs: Dark-morphs showed a decrease in foraging with increasing light-levels; whereas no relationship was found for white-morphs. Furthermore, we found differential-degrees of habitat selection, with dark-morphs selecting more enclosed habitats compared to white-morphs. This suggests that different morphs may be better adapted to foraging under different light-conditions, potentially playing a role in maintaining colour polymorphism in this species. Our results may also help explain why dark-morphs predominate in this study region, which experiences high rainfall and lower light-levels during the breeding-period. This study suggests that avian morphs may allocate/partition foraging activity by weather conditions/habitat, which maximise their concealment from prey.Gareth J TateArjun AmarNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Gareth J Tate Arjun Amar Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
description	Abstract Colour polymorphism may be maintained within a population by disruptive-selection. One hypothesis proposes that different morphs are adapted to different ambient light conditions, with lighter morphs having a selective advantage in bright conditions and darker morphs having advantages in darker conditions. The mechanism for this advantage is proposed to be through enhanced crypsis via background-matching. We explore this hypothesis in a polymorphic raptor, the black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus, which exhibits a discrete dark and white-morph. We use GPS-tracking data to contrast the foraging behaviour and habitat selection of morphs. As predicted, we found that light-levels influenced foraging behaviour in different ways for morphs: Dark-morphs showed a decrease in foraging with increasing light-levels; whereas no relationship was found for white-morphs. Furthermore, we found differential-degrees of habitat selection, with dark-morphs selecting more enclosed habitats compared to white-morphs. This suggests that different morphs may be better adapted to foraging under different light-conditions, potentially playing a role in maintaining colour polymorphism in this species. Our results may also help explain why dark-morphs predominate in this study region, which experiences high rainfall and lower light-levels during the breeding-period. This study suggests that avian morphs may allocate/partition foraging activity by weather conditions/habitat, which maximise their concealment from prey.
format	article
author	Gareth J Tate Arjun Amar
author_facet	Gareth J Tate Arjun Amar
author_sort	Gareth J Tate
title	Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
title_short	Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
title_full	Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
title_fullStr	Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
title_full_unstemmed	Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
title_sort	morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/9a1f3e8359d74a88b65eb36962da26ac
work_keys_str_mv	AT garethjtate morphspecificforagingbehaviorbyapolymorphicraptorundervariablelightconditions AT arjunamar morphspecificforagingbehaviorbyapolymorphicraptorundervariablelightconditions
_version_	1718395119425552384

Morph specific foraging behavior by a polymorphic raptor under variable light conditions

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