Function and underlying mechanisms of seasonal colour moulting in mammals and birds: what keeps them changing in a warming world?

Autor: Zimova M; Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, U.S.A.; Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, U.S.A., Hackländer K; Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, U.S.A.; Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, 1180, Austria., Good JM; Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA., Melo-Ferreira J; CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal., Alves PC; Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, U.S.A.; CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal., Mills LS; Wildlife Biology Program and Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society [Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc] 2018 Aug; Vol. 93 (3), pp. 1478-1498. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Mar 05.
DOI: 10.1111/brv.12405
Abstrakt: Animals that occupy temperate and polar regions have specialized traits that help them survive in harsh, highly seasonal environments. One particularly important adaptation is seasonal coat colour (SCC) moulting. Over 20 species of birds and mammals distributed across the northern hemisphere undergo complete, biannual colour change from brown in the summer to completely white in the winter. But as climate change decreases duration of snow cover, seasonally winter white species (including the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus, Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus and willow ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus) become highly contrasted against dark snowless backgrounds. The negative consequences of camouflage mismatch and adaptive potential is of high interest for conservation. Here we provide the first comprehensive review across birds and mammals of the adaptive value and mechanisms underpinning SCC moulting. We found that across species, the main function of SCC moults is seasonal camouflage against snow, and photoperiod is the main driver of the moult phenology. Next, although many underlying mechanisms remain unclear, mammalian species share similarities in some aspects of hair growth, neuroendocrine control, and the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on moult phenology. The underlying basis of SCC moults in birds is less understood and differs from mammals in several aspects. Lastly, our synthesis suggests that due to limited plasticity in SCC moulting, evolutionary adaptation will be necessary to mediate future camouflage mismatch and a detailed understanding of the SCC moulting will be needed to manage populations effectively under climate change.
(© 2018 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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