In birds, carotenoid-based plumage coloration is more dependent on physical condition and
foraging abilities and less constrained developmentally than is melanin-based coloration …

Electrical power lines are ubiquitous in the developed world and in urban areas of the
developing world. All electrical currents, including those running through power lines …

Carotenoids are a large group of more than 500 different biochemicals synthesized by
bacteria, fungi, algae and plants. Higher animals obtain these biologically active pigments in …

Mechanisms maintaining honesty of sexual signals are far from resolved, limiting our
understanding of sexual selection and potential important parts of physiology. Carotenoid …

Plumage coloration may signal individual quality through carotenoid and melanin colour
patterns; novel mechanisms by which structural coloration in feathers could signal individual …

Most studies of condition-dependent sexual ornaments have treated such ornaments as
single traits. However, sexual ornaments are often composites of several components, each …

I compared the feather mite (Acari, Proctophyllodidae) loads of moulting birds with features
of the new plumage that they were growing. I examined 21 samples, each sample …

The frequency of extra-pair paternity was determined in broods of the yellowhammer using
single-locus DNA fingerprinting. Of 32 analysed clutches, 69% contained at least one extra …

1. Although a female preference for pairing with brightly plumaged males has been reported
in many species, the reasons for this choice are not fully understood. 2. Parasites have been …

I investigated how mate quality and territory quality influence an extravagant ornament in a
socially monogamous species that defends multipurpose territories. Northern cardinals …