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Taylor LU, Prum RO. SOCIAL CONTEXT AND THE EVOLUTION OF DELAYED REPRODUCTION IN BIRDS. bioRxiv 2023:2023.08.02.551693. [PMID: 37577720 PMCID: PMC10418290 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.02.551693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
Classic life history theory makes generalized predictions about phenotypic correlations across large clades. Modern comparative tests of these correlations account for the underlying structure of phylogenetic trees. Yet neither life history theory nor phylogenetic comparative methods automatically specify how biological mechanisms generate correlations. This problem is evident in comparative analyses of birds. Birds show a correlation between body size and age at first reproduction, but do not actually grow larger if they delay reproduction. Instead, field studies raise the hypothesis that social contexts-especially cooperative breeding, coloniality, and lekking-generate unique demands for behavioral development, which in turn result in delayed reproduction. Here, we support that hypothesis with a comparative dataset spanning 961 species in 155 avian families. Continuous (Ornstein-Uhlenbeck), discrete (hidden state Markov), and phylogenetic regression models revealed delayed reproduction in colonial birds, a weaker signal in cooperative birds, and the consistent evolution of sexual bimaturism in polygynous, lekking birds. These results show an association between diverse social contexts, sex-specific developmental demands, and life history evolution in birds. Considering this diversity, we discuss how even statistically powerful phylogenetic correlations-whether focused on mass, lifespan, or broad social categories-can ultimately fail to model the history of life history evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liam U. Taylor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Richard O. Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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2
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Snow SS, Prum RO. Remodeling male coercion and the evolution of sexual autonomy by mate choice. Evolution 2023:7187850. [PMID: 37260260 DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpad074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Models of sexual conflict over mating, including conflict over indirect benefits of mate choice, have generally presumed that female resistance to male coercion must involve direct confrontation, which can lead to sexually antagonistic coevolutionary arms-races. We built a quantitative model examining the largely ignored possibility that females may evolve new, additional mate preferences for new male traits that undermine male capacity to coerce. Thus, females may "remodel" the coercive capacity of the male phenotype in order to enhance their own sexual autonomy-a novel alternative mechanism by which females may avoid arms-races. We demonstrate that evolutionary "remodeling" is possible, in spite of costs to males, because females that prefer males with protective, autonomy-enhancing traits (traits correlated with lower coercion effectiveness) are likelier to gain indirect benefits of having attractive mates. Our analysis reveals new possibilities for the evolution of systems of sexual conflict over indirect benefits, showing that autonomy-enhancing male traits can act as a "public good," benefiting all females regardless of mating preferences, leading to oscillatory dynamics; and that preferences for more protective male traits will often be favored relative to preferences for less protective traits, potentially leading to an evolutionary "snowball" of expanding sexual autonomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel S Snow
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse, Occitanie, France
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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3
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Sicher A, Ganz R, Menzel A, Messmer D, Panzarasa G, Feofilova M, Prum RO, Style RW, Saranathan V, Rossi RM, Dufresne ER. Structural color from solid-state polymerization-induced phase separation. Soft Matter 2021; 17:5772-5779. [PMID: 34027537 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm00210d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Structural colors are produced by wavelength-dependent scattering of light from nanostructures. While living organisms often exploit phase separation to directly assemble structurally colored materials from macromolecules, synthetic structural colors are typically produced in a two-step process involving the sequential synthesis and assembly of building blocks. Phase separation is attractive for its simplicity, but applications are limited due to a lack of robust methods for its control. A central challenge is to arrest phase separation at the desired length scale. Here, we show that solid-state polymerization-induced phase separation can produce stable structures at optical length scales. In this process, a polymeric solid is swollen and softened with a second monomer. During its polymerization, the two polymers become immiscible and phase separate. As free monomer is depleted, the host matrix resolidifies and arrests coarsening. The resulting polymeric composites have a blue or white appearance. We compare these biomimetic nanostructures to those in structurally-colored feather barbs, and demonstrate the flexibility of this approach by producing structural color in filaments and large sheets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Sicher
- Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
- Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
| | - Rabea Ganz
- Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Andreas Menzel
- Paul Scherrer Institut, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Messmer
- Laboratory of Polymeric Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Guido Panzarasa
- Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Maria Feofilova
- Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Robert W Style
- Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
| | | | - René M Rossi
- Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
| | - Eric R Dufresne
- Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
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4
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Schaedler LM, Taylor LU, Prum RO, Anciães M. CONSTRAINT AND FUNCTION IN THE PREDEFINITIVE PLUMAGES OF MANAKINS (AVES: PIPRIDAE). Integr Comp Biol 2021; 61:1363-1377. [PMID: 33956153 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icab063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Birds with delayed plumage maturation exhibit a drab predefinitive plumage, often despite gonad maturation, before developing the definitive plumage associated with increased reproductive success. Manakins are a diverse clade of neotropical lekking birds with extreme sexual dichromatism, radical sexual displays, and a unique diversity in the predefinitive plumages of males across species. Here, we provide the first full review of the natural history of manakin predefinitive plumages as the basis for qualitatively addressing the six major hypotheses about the production and function of predefinitive plumages. We find little evidence to support the possibilities that manakin predefinitive plumages are directly constrained by inflexible molt schedules, resource limitations to definitive coloration, or hormonal ties to reproductive behaviors. There is little evidence that could support a crypsis function, although direct experimentation is needed, and mimicry is refuted except for one unusual species in which predefinitive males sire young. Instead, evidence from a handful of well-studied species suggests that predefinitive plumages help young males explicitly signal their social status, and thereby gain entry to the social hierarchies which dictate future reproductive success. Our conclusions are especially influenced by the unique fact that males of at least 11 species throughout the family exhibit multiple predefinitive plumage stages with distinctively male patches. For each hypothesis, we highlight ways in which a better knowledge of female and young male birds offers critical opportunities for the use of manakins as a model clade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Schaedler
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM 69067-375, Brazil
| | - Liam U Taylor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Marina Anciães
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM 69067-375, Brazil
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5
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Bilger HT, Vertosick E, Vickers A, Kaczmarek K, Prum RO. Higher-Order Musical Temporal Structure in Bird Song. Front Psychol 2021; 12:629456. [PMID: 33868093 PMCID: PMC8044833 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.629456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Bird songs often display musical acoustic features such as tonal pitch selection, rhythmicity, and melodic contouring. We investigated higher-order musical temporal structure in bird song using an experimental method called “music scrambling” with human subjects. Recorded songs from a phylogenetically diverse group of 20 avian taxa were split into constituent elements (“notes” or “syllables”) and recombined in original and random order. Human subjects were asked to evaluate which version sounded more “musical” on a per-species basis. Species identity and stimulus treatment were concealed from subjects, and stimulus presentation order was randomized within and between taxa. Two recordings of human music were included as a control for attentiveness. Participants varied in their assessments of individual species musicality, but overall they were significantly more likely to rate bird songs with original temporal sequence as more musical than those with randomized temporal sequence. We discuss alternative hypotheses for the origins of avian musicality, including honest signaling, perceptual bias, and arbitrary aesthetic coevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans T Bilger
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Emily Vertosick
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Andrew Vickers
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Konrad Kaczmarek
- Department of Music, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
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Abstract
Male peacock spiders (Maratus, Salticidae) compete to attract female mates using elaborate, sexually selected displays. They evolved both brilliant colour and velvety black. Here, we use scanning electron microscopy, hyperspectral imaging and finite-difference time-domain optical modelling to investigate the deep black surfaces of peacock spiders. We found that super black regions reflect less than 0.5% of light (for a 30° collection angle) in Maratus speciosus (0.44%) and Maratus karrie (0.35%) owing to microscale structures. Both species evolved unusually high, tightly packed cuticular bumps (microlens arrays), and M. karrie has an additional dense covering of black brush-like scales atop the cuticle. Our optical models show that the radius and height of spider microlenses achieve a balance between (i) decreased surface reflectance and (ii) enhanced melanin absorption (through multiple scattering, diffraction out of the acceptance cone of female eyes and increased path length of light through absorbing melanin pigments). The birds of paradise (Paradiseidae), ecological analogues of peacock spiders, also evolved super black near bright colour patches. Super black locally eliminates white specular highlights, reference points used to calibrate colour perception, making nearby colours appear brighter, even luminous, to vertebrates. We propose that this pre-existing, qualitative sensory experience—‘sensory bias’—is also found in spiders, leading to the convergent evolution of super black for mating displays in jumping spiders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dakota E McCoy
- 1 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University , 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA
| | - Victoria E McCoy
- 2 Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie, Universität Bonn , Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn , Germany
| | - Nikolaj K Mandsberg
- 3 Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark , 2800 Kongens Lyngby , Denmark.,4 John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , 9 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA
| | - Anna V Shneidman
- 4 John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , 9 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA
| | - Joanna Aizenberg
- 4 John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , 9 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA.,5 Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University , 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA , USA.,6 Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University , 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA , USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- 7 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511 , USA
| | - David Haig
- 1 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University , 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA
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7
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McCoy DE, Prum RO. Convergent evolution of super black plumage near bright color in 15 bird families. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:222/18/jeb208140. [PMID: 31558610 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.208140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 08/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
We examined extremely low-reflectance, velvety black plumage patches in 32 bird species from 15 families and five orders and compared them with 22 closely related control species with normal black plumage. We used scanning electron microscopy to investigate microscopic feather anatomy, and applied spectrophotometry and hyperspectral imaging to measure plumage reflectance. Super black plumages are significantly darker and have more broadband low reflectance than normal black plumages, and they have evolved convergently in 15 avian families. Super black feather barbules quantitatively differ in microstructure from normal black feathers. Microstructural variation is significantly correlated with reflectance: tightly packed, strap-shaped barbules have lower reflectance. We assigned these super black feathers to five heuristic classes of microstructure, each of which has evolved multiple times independently. All classes have minimal exposed horizontal surface area and 3D micrometer-scale cavities greater in width and depth than wavelengths of light. In many species, barbule morphology varied between the super black exposed tip of a feather and its (i) concealed base or (ii) iridescently colored spot. We propose that super black plumages reduce reflectance, and flatten reflectance spectra, through multiple light scattering between the vertically oriented surfaces of microscale cavities, contributing to near-complete absorption of light by melanin. All super black plumage patches identified occur adjacent to brilliant colored patches. Super black plumage lacks all white specular reflections (reference points used to calibrate color perception), thus exaggerating the perceived brightness of nearby colors. We hypothesize that this sensory bias is an unavoidable by-product of color correction in variable light environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dakota E McCoy
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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8
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Snow SS, Alonzo SH, Servedio MR, Prum RO. Female resistance to sexual coercion can evolve to preserve the indirect benefits of mate choice. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:545-558. [PMID: 30817033 PMCID: PMC7045708 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Revised: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Sexual conflict over the indirect benefits of mate choice may arise when traits in one sex limit the ability of the other sex to freely choose mates but when these coercive traits are not necessarily directly harmful (i.e. forced fertilization per se). Although we might hypothesize that females can evolve resistance in order to retain the indirect, genetic benefits (reflected in offspring attractiveness) of mating with attractive males, up to now it has been difficult to evaluate potential underlying mechanisms. Traditional theoretical approaches do not usually conceptually distinguish between female preference for male mating display and female resistance to forced fertilization, yet sexual conflict over indirect benefits implies the simultaneous action of all of these traits. Here, we present an integrative theoretical framework that draws together concepts from both sexual selection and sexual conflict traditions, allowing for the simultaneous coevolution of displays and preferences, and of coercion and resistance. We demonstrate that it is possible for resistance to coercion to evolve in the absence of direct costs of mating to preserve the indirect benefits of mate choice. We find that resistance traits that improve the efficacy of female mating preference can evolve as long as females are able to attain some indirect benefits of mating with attractive males, even when both attractive and unattractive males can coerce. These results reveal new evolutionary outcomes that were not predicted by prior theories of indirect benefits or sexual conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel S. Snow
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale
University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06520
| | - Suzanne H. Alonzo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University
of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 95064
| | - Maria R. Servedio
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, North Carolina, 27599
| | - Richard O. Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale
University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06520
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9
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Liang C, Musser JM, Cloutier A, Prum RO, Wagner GP. Pervasive Correlated Evolution in Gene Expression Shapes Cell and Tissue Type Transcriptomes. Genome Biol Evol 2018; 10:538-552. [PMID: 29373668 PMCID: PMC5800078 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evy016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution and diversification of cell types is a key means by which animal complexity evolves. Recently, hierarchical clustering and phylogenetic methods have been applied to RNA-seq data to infer cell type evolutionary history and homology. A major challenge for interpreting this data is that cell type transcriptomes may not evolve independently due to correlated changes in gene expression. This nonindependence can arise for several reasons, such as common regulatory sequences for genes expressed in multiple tissues, that is, pleiotropic effects of mutations. We develop a model to estimate the level of correlated transcriptome evolution (LCE) and apply it to different data sets. The results reveal pervasive correlated transcriptome evolution among different cell and tissue types. In general, tissues related by morphology or developmental lineage exhibit higher LCE than more distantly related tissues. Analyzing new data collected from bird skin appendages suggests that LCE decreases with the phylogenetic age of tissues compared, with recently evolved tissues exhibiting the highest LCE. Furthermore, we show correlated evolution can alter patterns of hierarchical clustering, causing different tissue types from the same species to cluster together. To identify genes that most strongly contribute to the correlated evolution signal, we performed a gene-wise estimation of LCE on a data set with ten species. Removing genes with high LCE allows for accurate reconstruction of evolutionary relationships among tissue types. Our study provides a statistical method to measure and account for correlated gene expression evolution when interpreting comparative transcriptome data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cong Liang
- Yale Systems Biology Institute, West Haven, Connecticut.,Interdepartmental Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University.,Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology, Yale University
| | - Jacob M Musser
- Yale Systems Biology Institute, West Haven, Connecticut.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University.,European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Developmental Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Alison Cloutier
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University.,Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Günter P Wagner
- Yale Systems Biology Institute, West Haven, Connecticut.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University.,Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale Medical School, New Haven, Connecticut.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
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10
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Clark CJ, McGuire JA, Bonaccorso E, Berv JS, Prum RO. Complex coevolution of wing, tail, and vocal sounds of courting male bee hummingbirds. Evolution 2018; 72:630-646. [PMID: 29380351 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 08/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Phenotypic characters with a complex physical basis may have a correspondingly complex evolutionary history. Males in the "bee" hummingbird clade court females with sound from tail-feathers, which flutter during display dives. On a phylogeny of 35 species, flutter sound frequency evolves as a gradual, continuous character on most branches. But on at least six internal branches fall two types of major, saltational changes: mode of flutter changes, or the feather that is the sound source changes, causing frequency to jump from one discrete value to another. In addition to their tail "instruments," males also court females with sound from their syrinx and wing feathers, and may transfer or switch instruments over evolutionary time. In support of this, we found a negative phylogenetic correlation between presence of wing trills and singing. We hypothesize this transference occurs because wing trills and vocal songs serve similar functions and are thus redundant. There are also three independent origins of self-convergence of multiple signals, in which the same species produces both a vocal (sung) frequency sweep, and a highly similar nonvocal sound. Moreover, production of vocal, learned song has been lost repeatedly. Male bee hummingbirds court females with a diverse, coevolving array of acoustic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
| | - Jimmy A McGuire
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
| | - Elisa Bonaccorso
- Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Diego de Robles y Pampite, 17-1200-841 Quito, Ecuador.,Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Quito, Ecuador; and Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Diego de Robles y Vía Interoceánica, 17-1200-841 Quito, Ecuador
| | - Jacob S Berv
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY 14850
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
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11
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McCoy DE, Feo T, Harvey TA, Prum RO. Structural absorption by barbule microstructures of super black bird of paradise feathers. Nat Commun 2018; 9:1. [PMID: 29317637 PMCID: PMC5760687 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02088-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3664] [Impact Index Per Article: 610.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2017] [Accepted: 11/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies have shown how pigments and internal nanostructures generate color in nature. External surface structures can also influence appearance, such as by causing multiple scattering of light (structural absorption) to produce a velvety, super black appearance. Here we show that feathers from five species of birds of paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae) structurally absorb incident light to produce extremely low-reflectance, super black plumages. Directional reflectance of these feathers (0.05-0.31%) approaches that of man-made ultra-absorbent materials. SEM, nano-CT, and ray-tracing simulations show that super black feathers have titled arrays of highly modified barbules, which cause more multiple scattering, resulting in more structural absorption, than normal black feathers. Super black feathers have an extreme directional reflectance bias and appear darkest when viewed from the distal direction. We hypothesize that structurally absorbing, super black plumage evolved through sensory bias to enhance the perceived brilliance of adjacent color patches during courtship display.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dakota E McCoy
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
| | - Teresa Feo
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, MRC-116, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
| | - Todd Alan Harvey
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
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12
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Prum RO. PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF ALTERNATIVE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN THE MANAKINS (AVES: PIPRIDAE). Evolution 2017; 48:1657-1675. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1994.tb02203.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/1993] [Accepted: 01/10/1994] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Richard O. Prum
- Museum of Natural History and Department of Systematics and Ecology; University of Kansas; Lawrence Kansas 66045-2425
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13
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Cracraft J, Prum RO. PATTERNS AND PROCESSES OF DIVERSIFICATION: SPECIATION AND HISTORICAL CONGRUENCE IN SOME NEOTROPICAL BIRDS. Evolution 2017; 42:603-620. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1988.tb04164.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/1986] [Accepted: 01/11/1988] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joel Cracraft
- Department of Anatomy University of Illinois P.O. Box 6998 Chicago IL 60680
- Department of Zoology Field Museum of Natural History Chicago IL 60605
| | - Richard O. Prum
- Museum of Zoology, and Department of Biology University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI 48109
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14
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Clark CJ, Kirschel ANG, Hadjioannou L, Prum RO. Smithornis broadbills produce loud wing song by aeroelastic flutter of medial primary wing feathers. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 219:1069-75. [PMID: 27030781 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.131664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2015] [Accepted: 01/23/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Broadbills in the genus Smithornis produce a loud brreeeeet during a distinctive flight display. It has been posited that this klaxon-like sound is generated non-vocally with the outer wing feathers (P9, P10), but no scientific studies have previously addressed this hypothesis. Although most birds that make non-vocal communication sounds have feathers with a shape distinctively modified for sound production, Smithornis broadbills do not. We investigated whether this song is produced vocally or with the wings in rufous-sided broadbill (S. rufolateralis) and African broad bill (S. capensis). In support of the wing song hypothesis, synchronized high-speed video and sound recordings of displays demonstrated that sound pulses were produced during the downstroke, subtle gaps sometimes appeared between the outer primary feathers P6-P10, and wing tip speed reached 16 m s(-1) Tests of a spread wing in a wind tunnel demonstrated that at a specific orientation, P6 and P7 flutter and produce sound. Wind tunnel tests on individual feathers P5-P10 from a male of each species revealed that while all of these feathers can produce sound via aeroelastic flutter, P6 and P7 produce the loudest sounds, which are similar in frequency to the wing song, at airspeeds achievable by the wing tip during display flight. Consistent with the wind tunnel experiments, field manipulations of P6, P7 and P8 changed the timbre of the wing song, and reduced its tonality, demonstrating that P6 and P7 are together the sound source, and not P9 or P10. The resultant wing song appears to have functionally replaced vocal song.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Alexander N G Kirschel
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Louis Hadjioannou
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
| | - Richard O Prum
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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Singer A, Boucheron L, Dietze SH, Jensen KE, Vine D, McNulty I, Dufresne ER, Prum RO, Mochrie SGJ, Shpyrko OG. Domain morphology, boundaries, and topological defects in biophotonic gyroid nanostructures of butterfly wing scales. Sci Adv 2016; 2:e1600149. [PMID: 27386575 PMCID: PMC4928966 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 05/19/2016] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Many organisms in nature have evolved sophisticated cellular mechanisms to produce photonic nanostructures and, in recent years, diverse crystalline symmetries have been identified and related to macroscopic optical properties. However, because we know little about the distributions of domain sizes, the orientations of photonic crystals, and the nature of defects in these structures, we are unable to make the connection between the nanostructure and its development and functionality. We report on nondestructive studies of the morphology of chitinous photonic crystals in butterfly wing scales. Using spatially and angularly resolved x-ray diffraction, we find that the domains are highly oriented with respect to the whole scale, indicating growth from scale boundaries. X-ray coherent diffractive imaging reveals two types of crystalline domain interfaces: abrupt changes between domains emerging from distinct nucleation sites and smooth transitions with edge dislocations presumably resulting from internal stresses during nanostructure development. Our study of the scale structure reveals new aspects of photonic crystal growth in butterfly wings and shows their similarity to block copolymer materials. It opens new avenues to exploration of fundamental processes underlying the growth of biological photonic nanostructures in a variety of species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrej Singer
- University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | | | | | | | - David Vine
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
| | - Ian McNulty
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
| | | | | | | | - Oleg G. Shpyrko
- University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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16
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Feo TJ, Simon E, Prum RO. Theory of the development of curved barbs and their effects on feather morphology. J Morphol 2016; 277:995-1013. [PMID: 27185293 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2015] [Revised: 04/04/2016] [Accepted: 04/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Feathers exhibit an extraordinary diversity of shapes, which are used by birds to accomplish a diverse set of functions. Pennaceous feathers have a double branched morphology that develops from a tube of epidermis, and variation in branch geometry determines feather shape. Feather development is both complex (i.e., a simple developmental modification can have multiple effects on mature feather shape), and redundant (i.e., different developmental modifications can create the same shape). Due to this, it is not readily apparent how different feather shapes develop. In many feathers, barbs are not straight, but instead curve in toward, or away, from the feather tip. Barb curvature can affect the shape of mature feathers but the development of curved barbs is unknown. Previous research has hypothesized that barb curvature could develop either during the helical growth of barb ridges in the tubular feather germ, or during barb angle expansion as the feather unfurls from the sheath. To better understand the development of curved barbs and their effects on mature feathers we present a theoretical model of curved barb development and test the model with empirical investigations of feathers. We find that curved barbs affect many aspects of feather morphology including vane width, barb length, and barb spacing. In real feathers, curved barbs can develop both during helical barb ridge growth and during barb angle expansion, with most of the observed curvature due to barb angle expansion. Our results demonstrate that barb angle expansion as a feather unfurls from the sheath is a complex and dynamic process that plays an important role in determining the shape and structure of mature feathers. Curved barbs create heterogeneity in barb geometry within the feather vane, which could have important implications for aerodynamic function and the development of within feather pigmentation patterns. J. Morphol. 277:995-1013, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa J Feo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.,Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Emma Simon
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.,Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
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17
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Abstract
Interspecific social dominance mimicry (ISDM) is a form of social parasitism in which a subordinate species evolves to mimic and deceive a dominant interference competitor in order to avoid attack by the dominant species. ISDM has been proposed to result in (1) antagonistic coevolutionary arms races in appearance between the model and the mimic (e.g., Ramphastos toucans) and (2) the evolution of complexes of multiple species converging on a common visual appearance (e.g., kiskadee flycatchers). We present evolutionary games of antagonistic coevolution in appearance between pairs and triplets of sympatric species under interference competition. We identify conditions for the existence and stability of (1) coevolutionary mimicry cycles in appearance between evader and pursuer strategies of models and mimics, (2) mimicry chains in which three or more species are coevolutionarily entrained to evolve a single common appearance despite differences in their costs and benefits, and (3) mimicry traps in which a subdominant species is evolutionarily constrained from evading mimicry by a third, subordinate mimic species. Mimicry cycles will result in the evolutionary divergence of models and mimics from their ancestral phenotypes. The hierarchical evolutionary dynamics of ISDM traps and chains resemble Müllerian mimicry with variable costs to toxicity.
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18
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Feo TJ, Field DJ, Prum RO. Barb geometry of asymmetrical feathers reveals a transitional morphology in the evolution of avian flight. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20142864. [PMID: 25673687 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The geometry of feather barbs (barb length and barb angle) determines feather vane asymmetry and vane rigidity, which are both critical to a feather's aerodynamic performance. Here, we describe the relationship between barb geometry and aerodynamic function across the evolutionary history of asymmetrical flight feathers, from Mesozoic taxa outside of modern avian diversity (Microraptor, Archaeopteryx, Sapeornis, Confuciusornis and the enantiornithine Eopengornis) to an extensive sample of modern birds. Contrary to previous assumptions, we find that barb angle is not related to vane-width asymmetry; instead barb angle varies with vane function, whereas barb length variation determines vane asymmetry. We demonstrate that barb geometry significantly differs among functionally distinct portions of flight feather vanes, and that cutting-edge leading vanes occupy a distinct region of morphospace characterized by small barb angles. This cutting-edge vane morphology is ubiquitous across a phylogenetically and functionally diverse sample of modern birds and Mesozoic stem birds, revealing a fundamental aerodynamic adaptation that has persisted from the Late Jurassic. However, in Mesozoic taxa stemward of Ornithurae and Enantiornithes, trailing vane barb geometry is distinctly different from that of modern birds. In both modern birds and enantiornithines, trailing vanes have larger barb angles than in comparatively stemward taxa like Archaeopteryx, which exhibit small trailing vane barb angles. This discovery reveals a previously unrecognized evolutionary transition in flight feather morphology, which has important implications for the flight capacity of early feathered theropods such as Archaeopteryx and Microraptor. Our findings suggest that the fully modern avian flight feather, and possibly a modern capacity for powered flight, evolved crownward of Confuciusornis, long after the origin of asymmetrical flight feathers, and much later than previously recognized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa J Feo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Daniel J Field
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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Clark CJ, Prum RO. Aeroelastic flutter of feathers, flight and the evolution of non-vocal communication in birds. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 218:3520-7. [PMID: 26385327 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.126458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2015] [Accepted: 09/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Tonal, non-vocal sounds are widespread in both ordinary bird flight and communication displays. We hypothesized these sounds are attributable to an aerodynamic mechanism intrinsic to flight feathers: aeroelastic flutter. Individual wing and tail feathers from 35 taxa (from 13 families) that produce tonal flight sounds were tested in a wind tunnel. In the wind tunnel, all of these feathers could flutter and generate tonal sound, suggesting that the capacity to flutter is intrinsic to flight feathers. This result implies that the aerodynamic mechanism of aeroelastic flutter is potentially widespread in flight of birds. However, the sounds these feathers produced in the wind tunnel replicated the actual flight sounds of only 15 of the 35 taxa. Of the 20 negative results, we hypothesize that 10 are false negatives, as the acoustic form of the flight sound suggests flutter is a likely acoustic mechanism. For the 10 other taxa, we propose our negative wind tunnel results are correct, and these species do not make sounds via flutter. These sounds appear to constitute one or more mechanism(s) we call 'wing whirring', the physical acoustics of which remain unknown. Our results document that the production of non-vocal communication sounds by aeroelastic flutter of flight feathers is widespread in birds. Across all birds, most evolutionary origins of wing- and tail-generated communication sounds are attributable to three mechanisms: flutter, percussion and wing whirring. Other mechanisms of sound production, such as turbulence-induced whooshes, have evolved into communication sounds only rarely, despite their intrinsic ubiquity in ordinary flight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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20
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Musser JM, Wagner GP, Prum RO. Nuclear β-catenin localization supports homology of feathers, avian scutate scales, and alligator scales in early development. Evol Dev 2015; 17:185-94. [PMID: 25963196 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Feathers are an evolutionary novelty found in all extant birds. Despite recent progress investigating feather development and a revolution in dinosaur paleontology, the relationship of feathers to other amniote skin appendages, particularly reptile scales, remains unclear. Disagreement arises primarily from the observation that feathers and avian scutate scales exhibit an anatomical placode-defined as an epidermal thickening-in early development, whereas alligator and other avian scales do not. To investigate the homology of feathers and archosaur scales we examined patterns of nuclear β-catenin localization during early development of feathers and different bird and alligator scales. In birds, nuclear β-catenin is first localized to the feather placode, and then exhibits a dynamic pattern of localization in both epidermis and dermis of the feather bud. We found that asymmetric avian scutate scales and alligator scales share similar patterns of nuclear β-catenin localization with feathers. This supports the hypothesis that feathers, scutate scales, and alligator scales are homologous during early developmental stages, and are derived from early developmental stages of an asymmetric scale present in the archosaur ancestor. Furthermore, given that the earliest stage of β-catenin localization in feathers and archosaur scales is also found in placodes of several mammalian skin appendages, including hair and mammary glands, we hypothesize that a common skin appendage placode originated in the common ancestor of all amniotes. We suggest a skin placode should not be defined by anatomical features, but as a local, organized molecular signaling center from which an epidermal appendage develops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob M Musser
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 21 Sachem St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.,Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, 840 West Campus Drive, West Haven, CT 06516, USA
| | - Günter P Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 21 Sachem St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.,Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, 840 West Campus Drive, West Haven, CT 06516, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 21 Sachem St, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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21
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Brennan PLR, Prum RO. Mechanisms and Evidence of Genital Coevolution: The Roles of Natural Selection, Mate Choice, and Sexual Conflict. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2015; 7:a017749. [PMID: 26134314 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a017749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Genital coevolution between the sexes is expected to be common because of the direct interaction between male and female genitalia during copulation. Here we review the diverse mechanisms of genital coevolution that include natural selection, female mate choice, male-male competition, and how their interactions generate sexual conflict that can lead to sexually antagonistic coevolution. Natural selection on genital morphology will result in size coevolution to allow for copulation to be mechanically possible, even as other features of genitalia may reflect the action of other mechanisms of selection. Genital coevolution is explicitly predicted by at least three mechanisms of genital evolution: lock and key to prevent hybridization, female choice, and sexual conflict. Although some good examples exist in support of each of these mechanisms, more data on quantitative female genital variation and studies of functional morphology during copulation are needed to understand more general patterns. A combination of different approaches is required to continue to advance our understanding of genital coevolution. Knowledge of the ecology and behavior of the studied species combined with functional morphology, quantitative morphological tools, experimental manipulation, and experimental evolution have been provided in the best-studied species, all of which are invertebrates. Therefore, attention to vertebrates in any of these areas is badly needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia L R Brennan
- Departments of Psychology and Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
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22
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Saranathan V, Seago AE, Sandy A, Narayanan S, Mochrie SGJ, Dufresne ER, Cao H, Osuji CO, Prum RO. Structural Diversity of Arthropod Biophotonic Nanostructures Spans Amphiphilic Phase-Space. Nano Lett 2015; 15:3735-42. [PMID: 25938382 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Many organisms, especially arthropods, produce vivid interference colors using diverse mesoscopic (100-350 nm) integumentary biophotonic nanostructures that are increasingly being investigated for technological applications. Despite a century of interest, precise structural knowledge of many biophotonic nanostructures and the mechanisms controlling their development remain tentative, when such knowledge can open novel biomimetic routes to facilely self-assemble tunable, multifunctional materials. Here, we use synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy to characterize the photonic nanostructure of 140 integumentary scales and setae from ∼127 species of terrestrial arthropods in 85 genera from 5 orders. We report a rich nanostructural diversity, including triply periodic bicontinuous networks, close-packed spheres, inverse columnar, perforated lamellar, and disordered spongelike morphologies, commonly observed as stable phases of amphiphilic surfactants, block copolymer, and lyotropic lipid-water systems. Diverse arthropod lineages appear to have independently evolved to utilize the self-assembly of infolding lipid-bilayer membranes to develop biophotonic nanostructures that span the phase-space of amphiphilic morphologies, but at optical length scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinodkumar Saranathan
- †Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, 637371, Singapore
- ‡Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, United Kingdom
| | - Ainsley E Seago
- §CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Alec Sandy
- ∥Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Suresh Narayanan
- ∥Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
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LaFountain AM, Prum RO, Frank HA. Diversity, physiology, and evolution of avian plumage carotenoids and the role of carotenoid-protein interactions in plumage color appearance. Arch Biochem Biophys 2015; 572:201-212. [PMID: 25637658 DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2015.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2014] [Revised: 01/13/2015] [Accepted: 01/19/2015] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The diversity of vibrant plumage colors in birds has evolved as a direct result of social and environmental pressures. To fully understand these underlying pressures it is necessary to elucidate the mechanisms for the creation of novel plumage colors which include the metabolic transformations of dietary carotenoids and spectral tuning of the molecules within the feather protein environment. Recent advances in this field have greatly expanded the number and breadth of avian species for which plumage pigmentation has been characterized, making it possible to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of carotenoid usage in plumage. Resonance Raman and classical Raman spectroscopic techniques have been employed with great effect in the study of carotenoids in situ. The application of these methods have two benefits: to identify carotenoids in feathers that are unavailable for destructive sampling; and to study the spectral tuning resulting from the interaction between the carotenoids and the proteins to which they are bound. This review presents a summary of recent advances in the understanding of the molecular factors controlling the coloration of avian carotenoid plumage obtained through the application of both bioanalytical and spectroscopic methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M LaFountain
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 55 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Harry A Frank
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 55 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
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25
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Berv JS, Prum RO. A comprehensive multilocus phylogeny of the Neotropical cotingas (Cotingidae, Aves) with a comparative evolutionary analysis of breeding system and plumage dimorphism and a revised phylogenetic classification. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2014; 81:120-36. [PMID: 25234241 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2014] [Revised: 07/24/2014] [Accepted: 09/06/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The Neotropical cotingas (Cotingidae: Aves) are a group of passerine birds that are characterized by extreme diversity in morphology, ecology, breeding system, and behavior. Here, we present a comprehensive phylogeny of the Neotropical cotingas based on six nuclear and mitochondrial loci (∼7500 bp) for a sample of 61 cotinga species in all 25 genera, and 22 species of suboscine outgroups. Our taxon sample more than doubles the number of cotinga species studied in previous analyses, and allows us to test the monophyly of the cotingas as well as their intrageneric relationships with high resolution. We analyze our genetic data using a Bayesian species tree method, and concatenated Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods, and present a highly supported phylogenetic hypothesis. We confirm the monophyly of the cotingas, and present the first phylogenetic evidence for the relationships of Phibalura flavirostris as the sister group to Ampelion and Doliornis, and the paraphyly of Lipaugus with respect to Tijuca. In addition, we resolve the diverse radiations within the Cotinga, Lipaugus, Pipreola, and Procnias genera. We find no support for Darwin's (1871) hypothesis that the increase in sexual selection associated with polygynous breeding systems drives the evolution of color dimorphism in the cotingas, at least when analyzed at a broad categorical scale. Finally, we present a new comprehensive phylogenetic classification of all cotinga species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S Berv
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, P.O. Box 208105, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, P.O. Box 208105, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
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26
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Feo TJ, Prum RO. Theoretical morphology and development of flight feather vane asymmetry with experimental tests in parrots. J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol 2014; 322:240-55. [PMID: 24816758 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.22573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2013] [Revised: 02/20/2014] [Accepted: 04/15/2014] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Asymmetry in flight feather vane width is a major functional innovation associated with the evolution of flight in the ancestors of birds. However, the developmental and morphological basis of feather shape is not simple, and the developmental processes involved in vane width asymmetry are poorly understood. We present a theoretical model of feather morphology and development that describes the possible ways to modify feather development and produce vane asymmetry. Our model finds that the theoretical morphospace of feather shape is redundant, and that many different combinations of parameters could be responsible for vane asymmetry in a given feather. Next, we empirically measured morphological and developmental model parameters in asymmetric and symmetric feathers from two species of parrots to identify which combinations of parameters create vane asymmetry in real feathers. We found that both longer barbs, and larger barb angles in the relatively wider trailing vane drove asymmetry in tail feathers. Developmentally, longer barbs were the result of an offset of the radial position of the new barb locus, whereas larger barb angles were produced by differential expansion of barbs as the feather unfurls from the tubular feather germ. In contrast, the helical angle of barb ridge development did not contribute to vane asymmetry and could be indicative of a constraint. This research provides the first comprehensive description of both the morphological and developmental modifications responsible for vane asymmetry within real feathers, and identifies key steps that must have occurred during the evolution of vane asymmetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa J Feo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
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Prum RO, LaFountain AM, Berg CJ, Tauber MJ, Frank HA. Mechanism of carotenoid coloration in the brightly colored plumages of broadbills (Eurylaimidae). J Comp Physiol B 2014; 184:651-72. [PMID: 24647990 DOI: 10.1007/s00360-014-0816-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2013] [Revised: 02/03/2014] [Accepted: 02/12/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The plumage carotenoids of six species from five genera of broadbills (Eurylaimidae) have been examined. These plumages are crimson, violet, purple-maroon, or yellow. Two genera also have brilliant green plumages that are produced by a combination of structural coloration and unknown carotenoids. Six different carotenoids from nine different plumage patches were identified, including two previously unknown molecules, using high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and MS/MS fragment analysis. The yellow pigment in Eurylaimus javanicus and Eurylaimus ochromalus is identified as the novel carotenoid, 7,8-dihydro-3'-dehydro-lutein. The yellow and green plumages of Psarisomus dalhousiae contain the unmodified dietary carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. The brilliant green feathers of Calyptomena viridis contain a mixture of lutein and two other xanthophylls that have previously been found only in woodpeckers (Picinae). The crimson and violet colors of Cymbirhynchus, Sarcophanops, and Eurylaimus are produced by a novel pigment, which is identified as 2,3-didehydro-papilioerythrinone. The molecular structure of this carotenoid was confirmed using (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance, correlated two-dimensional spectroscopy, and two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy. Resonance Raman (rR) spectroscopy carried out at room and low temperatures was used to probe the configuration and conformation of 2,3-didehydro-papilioerythrinone in situ within crimson C. macrorhynchos and purple-red E. javanicus feathers. The rR spectra reveal that the pigment is in an all-trans configuration and appears to be relatively planar in the feathers. The likely metabolic pathways for the production of broadbill carotenoids from dietary precursors are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA,
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LaFountain AM, Pacheco C, Prum RO, Frank HA. Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of carotenoids from the burgundy plumage of the Pompadour Cotinga (Xipholena punicea). Arch Biochem Biophys 2013; 539:133-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2013.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2013] [Revised: 07/15/2013] [Accepted: 08/23/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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LaFountain AM, Frank HA, Prum RO. Carotenoids from the crimson and maroon plumages of Old World orioles (Oriolidae). Arch Biochem Biophys 2013; 539:126-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2013.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2013] [Revised: 06/28/2013] [Accepted: 07/01/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Berg CJ, LaFountain AM, Prum RO, Frank HA, Tauber MJ. Vibrational and electronic spectroscopy of the retro-carotenoid rhodoxanthin in avian plumage, solid-state films, and solution. Arch Biochem Biophys 2013; 539:142-55. [PMID: 24055537 DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2013.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2013] [Revised: 09/11/2013] [Accepted: 09/12/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Rhodoxanthin is one of few retro-carotenoids in nature. These chromophores are defined by a pattern of single and double bond alternation that is reversed relative to most carotenoids. Rhodoxanthin is found in the plumage of several families of birds, including fruit doves (Ptilinopus, Columbidae) and the red cotingas (Phoenicircus, Cotingidae). The coloration associated with the rhodoxanthin-containing plumage of these fruit dove and cotinga species ranges from brilliant red to magenta or purple. In the present study, rhodoxanthin is characterized in situ by UV-Vis reflectance and resonance Raman spectroscopy to gain insights into the mechanisms of color-tuning. The spectra are compared with those of the isolated pigment in solution and in thin solid films. Key vibrational signatures are identified for three isomers of rhodoxanthin, primarily in the fingerprint region. Electronic structure (DFT) calculations are employed to describe the normal modes of vibration, and determine characteristic modes of retro-carotenoids. These results are discussed in the context of various mechanisms that change the electronic absorption, including structural distortion of the chromophore or enhanced delocalization of π-electrons in the ground-state. From the spectroscopic evidence, we suggest that the shift in absorption is likely a consequence of perturbations that primarily affect the excited state of the chromophore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Berg
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0314, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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Abstract
This work proposes a coevolutionary theory of aesthetics that encompasses both biotic and human arts. Anthropocentric perspectives in aesthetics prevent the recognition of the ontological complexity of the aesthetics of nature, and the aesthetic agency of many non-human organisms. The process of evaluative coevolution is shared by all biotic advertisements. I propose that art consists of a form of communication that coevolves with its own evaluation. Art and art history are population phenomena. I expand Arthur Danto's Artworld concept to any aesthetic population of producers and evaluators. Current concepts of art cannot exclusively circumscribe the human arts from many forms of non-human biotic art. Without assuming an arbitrarily anthropocentric perspective, any concept of art will need to engage with biodiversity, and either recognize many instances of biotic advertisements as art, or exclude some instances of human art. Coevolutionary aesthetic theory provides a heuristic account of aesthetic change in both human and biotic artworlds, including the coevolutionary origin of aesthetic properties and aesthetic value within artworlds. Restructuring aesthetics, art criticism, and art history without human beings at the organizing centers of these disciplines stimulate new progress in our understanding of art, and the unique human contributions to aesthetics and aesthetic diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard O. Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA
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Abstract
Males in the 'bee' hummingbird clade produce distinctive, species-specific sounds with fluttering tail feathers during courtship displays. Flutter may be the result of vortex shedding or aeroelastic interactions. We investigated the underlying mechanics of flutter and sound production of a series of different feathers in a wind tunnel. All feathers tested were capable of fluttering at frequencies varying from 0.3 to 10 kHz. At low airspeeds (Uair) feather flutter was highly damped, but at a threshold airspeed (U*) the feathers abruptly entered a limit-cycle vibration and produced sound. Loudness increased with airspeed in most but not all feathers. Reduced frequency of flutter varied by an order of magnitude, and declined with increasing Uair in all feathers. This, along with the presence of strong harmonics, multiple modes of flutter and several other non-linear effects indicates that flutter is not simply a vortex-induced vibration, and that the accompanying sounds are not vortex whistles. Flutter is instead aeroelastic, in which structural (inertial/elastic) properties of the feather interact variably with aerodynamic forces, producing diverse acoustic results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
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Abstract
Feathers can produce sound by fluttering in airflow. This flutter is hypothesized to be aeroelastic, arising from the coupling of aerodynamic forces to one or more of the feather's intrinsic structural resonance frequencies. We investigated how mode of flutter varied among a sample of hummingbird tail feathers tested in a wind tunnel. Feather vibration was measured directly at ~100 points across the surface of the feather with a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV), as a function of airspeed, Uair. Most feathers exhibited multiple discrete modes of flutter, which we classified into types including tip, trailing vane and torsional modes. Vibratory behavior within a given mode was usually stable, but changes in independent variables such as airspeed or orientation sometimes caused feathers to abruptly 'jump' from one mode to another. We measured structural resonance frequencies and mode shapes directly by measuring the free response of 64 feathers stimulated with a shaker and recorded with the SLDV. As predicted by the aeroelastic flutter hypothesis, the mode shape (spatial distribution) of flutter corresponded to a bending or torsional structural resonance frequency of the feather. However, the match between structural resonance mode and flutter mode was better for tip or torsional mode shapes, and poorer for trailing vane modes. Often, the 3rd bending structural harmonic matched the expressed mode of flutter, rather than the fundamental. We conclude that flutter occurs when airflow excites one or more structural resonance frequencies of a feather, most akin to a vibrating violin string.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
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Stournaras KE, Lo E, Böhning-Gaese K, Cazetta E, Matthias Dehling D, Schleuning M, Stoddard MC, Donoghue MJ, Prum RO, Martin Schaefer H. How colorful are fruits? Limited color diversity in fleshy fruits on local and global scales. New Phytol 2013; 198:617-629. [PMID: 23374020 DOI: 10.1111/nph.12157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2012] [Accepted: 12/18/2012] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The colors of fleshy fruits are considered to be a signal to seed-dispersing animals, but their diversity remains poorly understood. Using an avian color space to derive a sensory morphospace for fruit color, we tested four hypotheses of fruit color diversity: fruit colors occupy a limited area of the color space; they are less diverse than flower colors; fruit colors within localities are similar to each other; and fruit color diversity reflects phylogeny. The global fruit color diversity of 948 primarily bird-dispersed plant species and the color diversity of localities were compared with null models of random, unconstrained evolution of fruit color. Fruit color diversity was further compared with the diversity of 1300 flower colors. Tests of phylogenetic effects on fruit color were used to assess the degree of correspondence with phylogeny. Global and local fruit color diversity was limited compared with null models and fruits have achieved only half the color diversity of flowers. Interestingly, we found little indication of phylogenetic conservatism. Constraints resulting from the chemical properties of pigments probably limit global fruit and flower color diversity. Different types of selection on fruits and flowers may further explain the smaller color diversity of fruits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kalliope E Stournaras
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstrasse 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208105, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Eugenia Lo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208105, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Katrin Böhning-Gaese
- Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
- Department of Biological Sciences, Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue-Straße 9, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Eliana Cazetta
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna km 16, Ilhéus, Bahia, CEP 45662-900, Brazil
| | - D Matthias Dehling
- Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Matthias Schleuning
- Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Mary Caswell Stoddard
- Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Michael J Donoghue
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208105, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208105, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - H Martin Schaefer
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstrasse 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
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Abstract
Darwin proposed an explicitly aesthetic theory of sexual selection in which he described mate preferences as a 'taste for the beautiful', an 'aesthetic capacity', etc. These statements were not merely colourful Victorian mannerisms, but explicit expressions of Darwin's hypothesis that mate preferences can evolve for arbitrarily attractive traits that do not provide any additional benefits to mate choice. In his critique of Darwin, A. R. Wallace proposed an entirely modern mechanism of mate preference evolution through the correlation of display traits with male vigour or viability, but he called this mechanism natural selection. Wallace's honest advertisement proposal was stridently anti-Darwinian and anti-aesthetic. Most modern sexual selection research relies on essentially the same Neo-Wallacean theory renamed as sexual selection. I define the process of aesthetic evolution as the evolution of a communication signal through sensory/cognitive evaluation, which is most elaborated through coevolution of the signal and its evaluation. Sensory evaluation includes the possibility that display traits do not encode information that is being assessed, but are merely preferred. A genuinely Darwinian, aesthetic theory of sexual selection requires the incorporation of the Lande-Kirkpatrick null model into sexual selection research, but also encompasses the possibility of sensory bias, good genes and direct benefits mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
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Abstract
Sexual conflict occurs when the evolutionary interests of the sexes differ and it broadly applies to decisions over mating, fertilization and parental investment. Recently, a narrower view of sexual conflict has emerged in which direct selection on females to avoid male-imposed costs during mating is considered the distinguishing feature of conflict, while indirect selection is considered negligible. In this view, intersexual selection via sensory bias is seen as the most relevant mechanism by which male traits that harm females evolve, with antagonistic coevolution between female preferences and male manipulation following. Under this narrower framework, female preference and resistance have been synonymized because both result in a mating bias, and similarly male display and coercion are not distinguished. Our recent work on genital evolution in waterfowl has highlighted problems with this approach. In waterfowl, preference and resistance are distinct components of female phenotype, and display and coercion are independent male strategies. Female preference for male displays result in mate choice, while forced copulations by unpreferred males result in resistance to prevent these males from achieving matings and fertilizations. Genital elaborations in female waterfowl appear to function in reinforcing female preference to maintain the indirect benefits of choice rather than to reduce the direct costs of coercive mating. We propose a return to a broader view of conflict where indirect selection and intrasexual selection are considered important in the evolution of conflict.
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Mendes-Pinto MM, LaFountain AM, Stoddard MC, Prum RO, Frank HA, Robert B. Variation in carotenoid-protein interaction in bird feathers produces novel plumage coloration. J R Soc Interface 2012; 9:3338-50. [PMID: 22832362 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2012.0471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Light absorption by carotenoids is known to vary substantially with the shape or conformation of the pigment molecule induced by the molecular environment, but the role of interactions between carotenoid pigments and the proteins to which they are bound, and the resulting impact on organismal coloration, remain unclear. Here, we present a spectroscopic investigation of feathers from the brilliant red scarlet ibis (Eudocimus ruber, Threskiornithidae), the orange-red summer tanager (Piranga rubra, Cardinalidae) and the violet-purple feathers of the white-browed purpletuft (Iodopleura isabellae, Tityridae). Despite their striking differences in colour, all three of these feathers contain canthaxanthin (β,β-carotene-4,4'-dione) as their primary pigment. Reflectance and resonance Raman (rR) spectroscopy were used to investigate the induced molecular structural changes and carotenoid-protein interactions responsible for the different coloration in these plumage samples. The results demonstrate a significant variation between species in the peak frequency of the strong ethylenic vibration (ν(1)) peak in the rR spectra, the most significant of which is found in I. isabellae feathers and is correlated with a red-shift in canthaxanthin absorption that results in violet reflectance. Neither polarizability of the protein environment nor planarization of the molecule upon binding can entirely account for the full extent of the colour shift. Therefore, we suggest that head-to-tail molecular alignment (i.e. J-aggregation) of the protein-bound carotenoid molecules is an additional factor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria M Mendes-Pinto
- Institut de Biologie et de Technologie de Saclay, CEA, URA 2096 CNRS, CEA Saclay 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
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Saranathan V, Forster JD, Noh H, Liew SF, Mochrie SGJ, Cao H, Dufresne ER, Prum RO. Structure and optical function of amorphous photonic nanostructures from avian feather barbs: a comparative small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis of 230 bird species. J R Soc Interface 2012; 9:2563-80. [PMID: 22572026 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2012.0191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-iridescent structural colours of feathers are a diverse and an important part of the phenotype of many birds. These colours are generally produced by three-dimensional, amorphous (or quasi-ordered) spongy β-keratin and air nanostructures found in the medullary cells of feather barbs. Two main classes of three-dimensional barb nanostructures are known, characterized by a tortuous network of air channels or a close packing of spheroidal air cavities. Using synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and optical spectrophotometry, we characterized the nanostructure and optical function of 297 distinctly coloured feathers from 230 species belonging to 163 genera in 51 avian families. The SAXS data provided quantitative diagnoses of the channel- and sphere-type nanostructures, and confirmed the presence of a predominant, isotropic length scale of variation in refractive index that produces strong reinforcement of a narrow band of scattered wavelengths. The SAXS structural data identified a new class of rudimentary or weakly nanostructured feathers responsible for slate-grey, and blue-grey structural colours. SAXS structural data provided good predictions of the single-scattering peak of the optical reflectance of the feathers. The SAXS structural measurements of channel- and sphere-type nanostructures are also similar to experimental scattering data from synthetic soft matter systems that self-assemble by phase separation. These results further support the hypothesis that colour-producing protein and air nanostructures in feather barbs are probably self-assembled by arrested phase separation of polymerizing β-keratin from the cytoplasm of medullary cells. Such avian amorphous photonic nanostructures with isotropic optical properties may provide biomimetic inspiration for photonic technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinodkumar Saranathan
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Caswell Stoddard
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Richard O. Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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Liew SF, Forster J, Noh H, Schreck CF, Saranathan V, Lu X, Yang L, Prum RO, O'Hern CS, Dufresne ER, Cao H. Short-range order and near-field effects on optical scattering and structural coloration. Opt Express 2011; 19:8208-8217. [PMID: 21643071 DOI: 10.1364/oe.19.008208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
We have investigated wavelength-dependent light scattering in biomimetic structures with short-range order. Coherent backscattering experiments are performed to measure the transport mean free path over a wide wavelength range. Overall scattering strength is reduced significantly due to short-range order and near-field effects. Our analysis explains why single scattering of light is dominant over multiple scattering in similar biological structures and is responsible for color generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- S F Liew
- Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
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D'Alba L, Saranathan V, Clarke JA, Vinther JA, Prum RO, Shawkey MD. Colour-producing β-keratin nanofibres in blue penguin (Eudyptula minor) feathers. Biol Lett 2011; 7:543-6. [PMID: 21307042 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.1163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The colours of living organisms are produced by the differential absorption of light by pigments (e.g. carotenoids, melanins) and/or by the physical interactions of light with biological nanostructures, referred to as structural colours. Only two fundamental morphologies of non-iridescent nanostructures are known in feathers, and recent work has proposed that they self-assemble by intracellular phase separation processes. Here, we report a new biophotonic nanostructure in the non-iridescent blue feather barbs of blue penguins (Eudyptula minor) composed of parallel β-keratin nanofibres organized into densely packed bundles. Synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering and two-dimensional Fourier analysis of electron micrographs of the barb nanostructure revealed short-range order in the organization of fibres at the appropriate size scale needed to produce the observed colour by coherent scattering. These two-dimensional quasi-ordered penguin nanostructures are convergent with similar arrays of parallel collagen fibres in avian and mammalian skin, but constitute a novel morphology for feathers. The identification of a new class of β-keratin nanostructures adds significantly to the known mechanisms of colour production in birds and suggests additional complexity in their self-assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liliana D'Alba
- Department of Biology and Integrated Bioscience Program, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3908, USA
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LaFountain AM, Kaligotla S, Cawley S, Riedl KM, Schwartz SJ, Frank HA, Prum RO. Novel methoxy-carotenoids from the burgundy-colored plumage of the Pompadour Cotinga Xipholena punicea. Arch Biochem Biophys 2010; 504:142-53. [PMID: 20709013 PMCID: PMC3887449 DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2010.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2010] [Revised: 07/30/2010] [Accepted: 08/09/2010] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent advances in the fields of chromatography, mass spectrometry, and chemical analysis have greatly improved the efficiency with which carotenoids can be extracted and analyzed from avian plumage. Prior to these technological developments, Brush (1968) concluded that the burgundy-colored plumage of the male pompadour Cotinga Xipholena punicea is produced by a combination of blue structural color and red carotenoids, including astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, isozeaxanthin, and a fourth unidentified, polar carotenoid. However, X. punicea does not in fact exhibit any structural coloration. This work aims to elucidate the carotenoid pigments of the burgundy color of X. punicea plumage using advanced analytical methodology. Feathers were collected from two burgundy male specimens and from a third aberrant orange-colored specimen. Pigments were extracted using a previously published technique (McGraw et al. (2005)), separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and analyzed by UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, chemical analysis, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and comparison with direct synthetic products. Our investigation revealed the presence of eight ketocarotenoids, including astaxanthin and canthaxanthin as reported previously by Brush (1968). Six of the ketocarotenoids contained methoxyl groups, which is rare for naturally-occurring carotenoids and a novel finding in birds. Interestingly, the carotenoid composition was the same in both the burgundy and orange feathers, indicating that feather coloration in X. punicea is determined not only by the presence of carotenoids, but also by interactions between the bound carotenoid pigments and their protein environment in the barb rami and barbules. This paper presents the first evidence of metabolically-derived methoxy-carotenoids in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M. LaFountain
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 55 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Shanti Kaligotla
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 55 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Shannon Cawley
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 55 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Ken M. Riedl
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Steven J. Schwartz
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Harry A. Frank
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 55 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Richard O. Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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Abstract
Xu et al. describe the extraordinarily preserved feathers from two subadults of the oviraptorisaur Similicaudipteryx from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. The preserved tail feathers of the juvenile specimen (STM4.1) show a morphology not previously observed in any fossil feathers. The tail feathers of an older, immature specimen (STM22-6) show a typical closed pennaceous structure with a prominent, planar vane. I propose that the feathers of the tail of the juvenile specimen are not a specialized feather generation, but fossilized 'pin feathers' or developing feather germs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Natural History Museum, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8150, USA.
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Prum RO. THE LANDE-KIRKPATRICK MECHANISM IS THE NULL MODEL OF EVOLUTION BY INTERSEXUAL SELECTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR MEANING, HONESTY, AND DESIGN IN INTERSEXUAL SIGNALS. Evolution 2010; 64:3085-100. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01054.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 159] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Forster JD, Noh H, Liew SF, Saranathan V, Schreck CF, Yang L, Park JG, Prum RO, Mochrie SGJ, O'Hern CS, Cao H, Dufresne ER. Biomimetic isotropic nanostructures for structural coloration. Adv Mater 2010; 22:2939-44. [PMID: 20414884 DOI: 10.1002/adma.200903693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 183] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jason D Forster
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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Noh H, Liew SF, Saranathan V, Mochrie SGJ, Prum RO, Dufresne ER, Cao H. How noniridescent colors are generated by quasi-ordered structures of bird feathers. Adv Mater 2010; 22:2871-2880. [PMID: 20401903 DOI: 10.1002/adma.200903699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
We investigate the mechanism of structural coloration by quasi-ordered nanostructures in bird feather barbs. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data reveal the structures are isotropic and have short-range order on length scales comparable to optical wavelengths. We perform angle-resolved reflection and scattering spectrometry to fully characterize the colors under directional and omni-directional illumination of white light. Under directional lighting, the colors change with the angle between the directions of illumination and observation. The angular dispersion of the primary peaks in the scattering/reflection spectra can be well explained by constructive interference of light that is scattered only once in the quasi-ordered structures. Using the Fourier power spectra of structure from the SAXS data we calculate optical scattering spectra and explain why the light scattering peak is the highest in the backscattering direction. Under omni-directional lighting, colors from the quasi-ordered structures are invariant with the viewing angle. The non-iridescent coloration results from the isotropic nature of structures instead of strong backscattering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heeso Noh
- Department of Applied Physics, Center for Research on Interface Structure and Phenomena, Yale University, CT 06511, USA.
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Noh H, Liew SF, Saranathan V, Prum RO, Mochrie SGJ, Dufresne ER, Cao H. Double scattering of light from Biophotonic Nanostructures with short-range order. Opt Express 2010; 18:11942-11948. [PMID: 20589056 DOI: 10.1364/oe.18.011942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
We investigate the physical mechanism for color production by isotropic nanostructures with short-range order in bird feather barbs. While the primary peak in optical scattering spectra results from constructive interference of singly-scattered light, many species exhibit secondary peaks with distinct characteristic. Our experimental and numerical studies show that these secondary peaks result from double scattering of light by the correlated structures. Without an analog in periodic or random structures, such a phenomenon is unique for short-range ordered structures, and has been widely used by nature for non-iridescent structural coloration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heeso Noh
- Department of Applied Physics, Center for Research on Interface Structure and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven 06511, USA
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Noh H, Liew SF, Saranathan V, Prum RO, Mochrie SGJ, Dufresne ER, Cao H. Contribution of double scattering to structural coloration in quasiordered nanostructures of bird feathers. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 2010; 81:051923. [PMID: 20866277 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.81.051923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2009] [Revised: 04/02/2010] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
We measured the polarization- and angle-resolved optical scattering and reflection spectra of the quasiordered nanostructures in the bird feather barbs. In addition to the primary peak that originates from single scattering, we observed a secondary peak which exhibits depolarization and distinct angular dispersion. We explained the secondary peak in terms of double scattering, i.e., light is scattered successively twice by the structure. The two sequential single-scattering events are considered uncorrelated. Using the Fourier power spectra of the nanostructures obtained from the small-angle x-ray scattering experiment, we calculated the double scattering of light in various directions. The double-scattering spectrum is broader than the single-scattering spectrum, and it splits into two subpeaks at larger scattering angle. The good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data confirms that double scattering of light makes a significant contribution to the structural color.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heeso Noh
- Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
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