Feather damage of long tails in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica.
2003
Barbosa, Andrés | Merino, Santiago | Cuervo, José Javier | Lope, Florentino de | Møller, Anders Pape
Extravagant tails of many male birds are morphological structures affected by both natural and sexual selection. Elongated tail feathers may be more vulnerable to damage than feathers of short length. Feather breakage maythus act as a constraint on the evolution of elongated tails, regardless of mode of selection. Feather damage can affect flight performance by producing an asymmetric tail shape that may reduce manoeuvrability and agility Furthermore, feather asymmetry can reduce male mating success. We studied differences in tail damage in relation to tail length in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica from two populations. Damaged tail feathers were most common in individuals with the longest tails in both populations.
Show more [+] Less [-]A.B. was supported by a Marie Curie post-doctoral grant from the European Union and by Spanish DGES (PB980506). S.M. was supported by a post-doctoral grant of the Spanish Ministry of Education. J.J.C. was supported by Spanish DGICYT (PB95-0110), F.L. was supported by Spanish DGICYT (PB95020) and by Junta de Extremadura (PRI97C130) and A.P.M was supported by a grant from the Danish Natural Science Research Council.
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