Beak morphology predicts apparent survival of crossbills: due to selective survival or selective dispersal?
(2019) In Journal of Avian Biology 50(12).- Abstract
- Dozens of morphologically differentiated populations, subspecies and species of cross- bills (genus Loxia) exist. It has been suggested that this divergence is due to variation in the conifer cones that each population specialises upon, requiring a specific beak size to efficiently separate the cone scales. If so, apparent survival should depend on beak size. To test this hypothesis, we undertook multievent capture–recapture modelling for 6844 individuals monitored during 27 years in a Pyrenean common crossbill L. curvirostra population in a forest of mountain pine Pinus uncinata. Apparent survival was indeed related to beak width, resulting in stabilizing selection around an optimum that was close to the observed mean beak width,... (More)
- Dozens of morphologically differentiated populations, subspecies and species of cross- bills (genus Loxia) exist. It has been suggested that this divergence is due to variation in the conifer cones that each population specialises upon, requiring a specific beak size to efficiently separate the cone scales. If so, apparent survival should depend on beak size. To test this hypothesis, we undertook multievent capture–recapture modelling for 6844 individuals monitored during 27 years in a Pyrenean common crossbill L. curvirostra population in a forest of mountain pine Pinus uncinata. Apparent survival was indeed related to beak width, resulting in stabilizing selection around an optimum that was close to the observed mean beak width, indicating that local crossbill beak morphology is adapted to the conifer they feed upon. Both natural selection (selective mortality) and selective emigration of maladapted individuals may explain our find- ings. As is often the case in capture–recapture analyses but rarely recognised, we could not formally decompose apparent survival into selective mortality versus selective per- manent emigration. Nonetheless, there are several indications that selective permanent emigration should not be fully excluded. First, natural selection by itself would have to be unusually strong compared to other empirical estimates to create the observed pat- tern of apparent survival. Second, the observed mean beak width was a bit lower than the estimated optimum beak width. This can be explained by immigration of crossbills with smaller beaks originating from southern populations, which may subsequently have left the study area permanently in response to low food intake. This is in line with a detected transient effect in the data, yet apparently little influx from crossbills from northern Europe. When permanent emigration is phenotypically selective this will have ecological and evolutionary consequences, so this possibility deserves more attention in general. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f5c374eb-a0ae-4384-9b77-ae181779e2c3
- author
- Gómez‐blanco, David LU ; Santoro, Simone ; Borrás, Antoni ; Cabrera, Josep ; Senar, Juan Carlos and Edelaar, Pim
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Avian Biology
- volume
- 50
- issue
- 12
- article number
- e02107
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85077363072
- ISSN
- 0908-8857
- DOI
- 10.1111/jav.02107
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f5c374eb-a0ae-4384-9b77-ae181779e2c3
- date added to LUP
- 2020-01-09 11:15:34
- date last changed
- 2024-05-15 04:49:03
@article{f5c374eb-a0ae-4384-9b77-ae181779e2c3,
abstract = {{Dozens of morphologically differentiated populations, subspecies and species of cross- bills (genus Loxia) exist. It has been suggested that this divergence is due to variation in the conifer cones that each population specialises upon, requiring a specific beak size to efficiently separate the cone scales. If so, apparent survival should depend on beak size. To test this hypothesis, we undertook multievent capture–recapture modelling for 6844 individuals monitored during 27 years in a Pyrenean common crossbill L. curvirostra population in a forest of mountain pine Pinus uncinata. Apparent survival was indeed related to beak width, resulting in stabilizing selection around an optimum that was close to the observed mean beak width, indicating that local crossbill beak morphology is adapted to the conifer they feed upon. Both natural selection (selective mortality) and selective emigration of maladapted individuals may explain our find- ings. As is often the case in capture–recapture analyses but rarely recognised, we could not formally decompose apparent survival into selective mortality versus selective per- manent emigration. Nonetheless, there are several indications that selective permanent emigration should not be fully excluded. First, natural selection by itself would have to be unusually strong compared to other empirical estimates to create the observed pat- tern of apparent survival. Second, the observed mean beak width was a bit lower than the estimated optimum beak width. This can be explained by immigration of crossbills with smaller beaks originating from southern populations, which may subsequently have left the study area permanently in response to low food intake. This is in line with a detected transient effect in the data, yet apparently little influx from crossbills from northern Europe. When permanent emigration is phenotypically selective this will have ecological and evolutionary consequences, so this possibility deserves more attention in general.}},
author = {{Gómez‐blanco, David and Santoro, Simone and Borrás, Antoni and Cabrera, Josep and Senar, Juan Carlos and Edelaar, Pim}},
issn = {{0908-8857}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{12}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Journal of Avian Biology}},
title = {{Beak morphology predicts apparent survival of crossbills: due to selective survival or selective dispersal?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jav.02107}},
doi = {{10.1111/jav.02107}},
volume = {{50}},
year = {{2019}},
}