In Tundra Plovers the Frequency of Inner Flight Feather Replacement Varies with Length of Long-Distance Flights

[摘要] Therepairjobsthatbirdshavetodotomaintainhighqualityplumagetakeenergyandtime,soshouldbeunderintenseselection.Recently,wehaveshownthatsecondarymoultintheEurasianGoldenPloverPluvialisapricariaisincomplete,irregularandasymmetricbetweenwings,andarguedthatthisreflectedtheir‘relaxed’migratoryhabits.Onthebasisofthishypothesis,wepredictthatrelativesofthisspeciesthathavetomakelongflightsbetweenbreedingareasandwinterquarterswouldinvestmoreinthemoultofsecondaries.TotestthiswecollecteddataonmoultpatternsintwopopulationsofPacificGoldenPloversPluvialisfulva(SiberiaandAlaska),onAmericanGoldenPloversPluvialisdominica(Alaska)andGreyPloversPluvialissquatarola.Datawerefromthebreeding,staging(MongoliaandIndiana)andwintering(Uruguay)areas.Wefoundpatternsconsistentwithourprediction:PacificGoldenPloversfromSiberia,andGreyPlovershaveasimilarmoultingpatterntoEurasianGoldenPlovers.Althoughbothgotoremotewinterquarters,theymigratemainlyoverland,probablymakingshortormoderateflights,astheyareabletostagefrequently.Incontrast,theAlaskanpopulationsofPacificGoldenPloversandAmericanGoldenPloverstendtorenewalltheirsecondariesfromtheirsecondwingmoultonwards.Inlinewiththeirmoultpatterns,thesetwopopulationsareknowntomakeverylongnon-stopflightsbetweenbreedingandwinterareas.Wearguethatirregularmoultandthepartialrenewalofsecondariesisaprimitivecharacterinallfourspecies.ThefullreplacementofsecondariesinthePacificGoldenPloversandAmericanGoldenPloversfromAlaskamaybeconsideredasanadaptationforverylongdemandingflights.Regularmoultpatternsofsecondaries,asfoundinmanyothershorebirds,couldbeafurtherrefinementofthisadaptation.

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] Primitive Character