Bird Coloration, Volume 2: Function and Evolution

by Geoffrey E. Hill, Kevin J. McGraw

Overview

In this companion volume to Bird Coloration, Volume 1: Mechanisms and Measurements, Geoffrey E. Hill and Kevin J. McGraw have assembled some of the world’s leading experts in the function and evolution of bird coloration to contribute to a long-overdue synthesis of a burgeoning field of inquiry. In Volume 2, the authors turn from the problem of how birds see and produce color, and how researchers measure it, to the function of the colorful displays of birds and the factors that shape the evolution of color signals.

The contributors to this volume begin by examining the function of coloration in a variety of contexts from mate choice, to social signaling, to individual recognition, synthesizing a vast amount of recent findings by researchers around the world. The volume and the series conclude with chapters that consider coloration from an explicitly evolutionary perspective, examining selective pressures that have led to the evolution of colors and patterns on body and plumage. These functional and evolutionary studies build from research on mechanisms of production and controls of expression, covered in the previous volume, bringing the study of color full circle.

This sumptuously illustrated book will be essential reading for biologists studying animal coloration, but it will also be treasured by anyone curious about why birds are colorful and how they got that way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674021761
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2006
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	6.38(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey E. Hill is Alumni Professor of Biological Sciences, Auburn University.

Kevin J. McGraw is Assistant Professor of Life Sciences, Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

Preface

I. Function

1. Natural selection and avian coloration: protection, concealment, advertisement, or deception?

Gary R. Bortolotti

2. Intraspecific variation in bird colors

James Dale

3. Bird colors as intrasexual signals of aggression and dominance

Juan Carlos Senar

4. Female mate choice for ornamental coloration in birds

Geoffrey E. Hill

5. The function and evolution of color in young birds

Rebecca M. Kilner

6. Benefits to female birds of assessing color displays

Simon C. Griffith and Sarah R. Pryke

7. Female coloration in birds: a review of functional and non-functional hypotheses

Trond Amundsen and Henrik Paern

II. Evolution

8. Colorful phenotypes of colorless genotypes: Towards a new evolutionary synthesis of bird color displays

Alexander V. Badyaev

9. Ecological explanations for interspecific variability in avian coloration

Ian P. F. Owens

10. Adding color to the past: Ancestral-state reconstruction of bird coloration

Kevin E. Omland and Christopher M. Hofmann

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Index

What People are Saying About This

Together, these two volumes present an outstanding collection of contributions, written by leaders in the field and offering a modern, state-of-the-art review of our understanding of bird coloration--including the mechanisms, function, and evolution underlying the variation we see today.

Michael S. Webster

Together, these two volumes present an outstanding collection of contributions, written by leaders in the field and offering a modern, state-of-the-art review of our understanding of bird coloration--including the mechanisms, function, and evolution underlying the variation we see today.

— Washington State University

Editorial Reviews

Together, these two volumes present an outstanding collection of contributions, written by leaders in the field and offering a modern, state-of-the-art review of our understanding of bird coloration—including the mechanisms, function, and evolution underlying the variation we see today.

Michael S. Webster

The aim of Bird Coloration is to provide a flavour of the extent to which birds have exploited the sun’s rays… These two volumes also delve deeper into the disparate ways in which bird colours are produced, what purpose they perform, their effect on communities in general, and finally, how they got here in the first place—their evolution… The reference lists alone are priceless… Bird Coloration will appeal to students of, and researchers in, evolution in general, because the devices that cause colour are often considered as phenotypes. Those interested in ecology, animal behaviour and vision studies will benefit, too… And if further incentive is needed to buy these books, just flick through the colour sections.

Times Literary Supplement - Andrew R. Parker

This anthology of scientific writing in two volumes explains much of what is known about bird coloration and highlights that which we do not know. Subjects like whether the bright coloration of a male Northern Cardinal increases or decreases its chances of being captured by a visual predator like the Cooper’s Hawk are debated… Many of the contributions to this text are scientifically detailed, however, the fascinating subject of bird coloration is presented at a level that the average reader would learn much about this fascinating subject.

Wildlife Activist - Robert Hoopes

The two volumes of Bird Coloration provide an excellent up-to-date overview of the topic… Bird coloration is a huge topic and anyone organizing an overview should be heartily congratulated.

Nature - Andrew T. D. Bennett

The two volumes of Bird Coloration provide an excellent up-to-date overview of the topic...Bird coloration is a huge topic and anyone organizing an overview should be heartily congratulated.
— Andrew T. D. Bennett

Nature

The aim of Bird Coloration is to provide a flavour of the extent to which birds have exploited the sun's rays...These two volumes also delve deeper into the disparate ways in which bird colours are produced, what purpose they perform, their effect on communities in general, and finally, how they got here in the first place—their evolution...The reference lists alone are priceless...Bird Coloration will appeal to students of, and researchers in, evolution in general, because the devices that cause colour are often considered as phenotypes. Those interested in ecology, animal behaviour and vision studies will benefit, too...And if further incentive is needed to buy these books, just flick through the colour sections.

— Andrew R. Parker

Times Literary Supplement

The aim of Bird Coloration is to provide a flavour of the extent to which birds have exploited the sun's rays...These two volumes also delve deeper into the disparate ways in which bird colours are produced, what purpose they perform, their effect on communities in general, and finally, how they got here in the first place--their evolution...The reference lists alone are priceless...Bird Coloration will appeal to students of, and researchers in, evolution in general, because the devices that cause colour are often considered as phenotypes. Those interested in ecology, animal behaviour and vision studies will benefit, too...And if further incentive is needed to buy these books, just flick through the colour sections.

— Andrew R. Parker

Times Literary Supplement