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Avian Research 2021, 12(1): 45 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00280-7
Research | Open Access | Issue | Published: 14 September 2021

Does melanin-based plumage coloration reflect health status of free-living birds in urban environments?

Show Author's Information Hani Amir Aouissi1,2,  Mostefa Ababsa1,  Aissam Gaagai1,  Zihad Bouslama2,3,  Yassine Farhi1,  Haroun Chenchouni4,5 ( )
Scientific and Technical Research Center on Arid Regions (CRSTRA), 07000, Biskra, Algeria
Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Badji-Mokhtar Annaba University, 23000, Annaba, Algeria
Environmental Research Center (CRE), Badji-Mokhtar Annaba University, 23000, Annaba, Algeria
Department of Nature and Life Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Nature and Life Sciences, University of Larbi Tebessi, 12002, Tebessa, Algeria
Laboratory of Natural Resources and Management of Sensitive Environments 'RNAMS', University of Larbi Ben M'hidi, 04000, Oum-El-Bouaghi, Algeria
Keywords:
Urbanization, Columba livia , Feather color polymorphism, Feral birds, Hematological indicators, Hemoparasitism, Immune ecophysiology, Urban ornithology
Cite this article:
Aouissi HA, Ababsa M, Gaagai A, et al. Does melanin-based plumage coloration reflect health status of free-living birds in urban environments?. Avian Research, 2021, 12(1): 45. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00280-7
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Abstract Full text About this article
Background

Ecological functions and processes in urban ecosystems are governed by various human activities. City-adapted and city-exploiting animal species are expected to present certain specific behavioral and physiological traits in comparison to city-avoiders or conspecific individual frequenting less urbanized or rural environments. A trait of high importance, the plumage color polymorphism has been selected as the main study model and was correlated with different morphological and physiological parameters to highlight its importance in determining the possible health status of urban Feral Pigeons (Columba livia) in North African urban habitats.

Methods

Different body morphometrics, hematological and hemoparasitic parameters were quantified on free-living Feral Pigeons in urban environments of northern Algeria. Moreover, plumage melanin-based coloration (MBC) was measured and the data collected at the individual scale was correlated with the previous parameters using linear and non-linear modeling approaches.

Results

Plumage MBC scores of the sampled Feral Pigeons ranged between 0.3% and 74.8%. Among the 12 morphological traits measured, body weight, tail length and total length were deemed to be positively correlated with MBC. Darker morphs appeared to have more hemoparasites compared to lighter pigeons. Quite the same observation goes with the immunity but with non-linear trends. The number of monocytes and granulocytes increased with the increase in MBC levels in lighter morphs, while pigeons with high MBC scores exhibited negative relationships between MBC levels and the number of white blood cells.

Conclusions

Despite the existence of a number of studies demonstrating phenotypic directional selection, further studies are undoubtedly necessary to understand in detail the underlying mechanisms in species life-history strategies between differently colored individuals. Findings of this correlative study open exciting perspectives revealing that MBC can be considered a good indicator of and health status and adaptation strategies to changes in urban environments.


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Abstract
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About this article

Does melanin-based plumage coloration reflect health status of free-living birds in urban environments?

Show Author's information Hani Amir Aouissi1,2, Mostefa Ababsa1, Aissam Gaagai1, Zihad Bouslama2,3, Yassine Farhi1, Haroun Chenchouni4,5 ( )
Scientific and Technical Research Center on Arid Regions (CRSTRA), 07000, Biskra, Algeria
Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Badji-Mokhtar Annaba University, 23000, Annaba, Algeria
Environmental Research Center (CRE), Badji-Mokhtar Annaba University, 23000, Annaba, Algeria
Department of Nature and Life Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Nature and Life Sciences, University of Larbi Tebessi, 12002, Tebessa, Algeria
Laboratory of Natural Resources and Management of Sensitive Environments 'RNAMS', University of Larbi Ben M'hidi, 04000, Oum-El-Bouaghi, Algeria

Abstract

Background

Ecological functions and processes in urban ecosystems are governed by various human activities. City-adapted and city-exploiting animal species are expected to present certain specific behavioral and physiological traits in comparison to city-avoiders or conspecific individual frequenting less urbanized or rural environments. A trait of high importance, the plumage color polymorphism has been selected as the main study model and was correlated with different morphological and physiological parameters to highlight its importance in determining the possible health status of urban Feral Pigeons (Columba livia) in North African urban habitats.

Methods

Different body morphometrics, hematological and hemoparasitic parameters were quantified on free-living Feral Pigeons in urban environments of northern Algeria. Moreover, plumage melanin-based coloration (MBC) was measured and the data collected at the individual scale was correlated with the previous parameters using linear and non-linear modeling approaches.

Results

Plumage MBC scores of the sampled Feral Pigeons ranged between 0.3% and 74.8%. Among the 12 morphological traits measured, body weight, tail length and total length were deemed to be positively correlated with MBC. Darker morphs appeared to have more hemoparasites compared to lighter pigeons. Quite the same observation goes with the immunity but with non-linear trends. The number of monocytes and granulocytes increased with the increase in MBC levels in lighter morphs, while pigeons with high MBC scores exhibited negative relationships between MBC levels and the number of white blood cells.

Conclusions

Despite the existence of a number of studies demonstrating phenotypic directional selection, further studies are undoubtedly necessary to understand in detail the underlying mechanisms in species life-history strategies between differently colored individuals. Findings of this correlative study open exciting perspectives revealing that MBC can be considered a good indicator of and health status and adaptation strategies to changes in urban environments.

Keywords: Urbanization, Columba livia , Feather color polymorphism, Feral birds, Hematological indicators, Hemoparasitism, Immune ecophysiology, Urban ornithology

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements
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Publication history

Received: 19 October 2020
Accepted: 02 September 2021
Published: 14 September 2021
Issue date: January 2021

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2021.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Many thanks are addressed to Pr. Julien Gasparini and the IEES – UPMC (Paris) for providing good working conditions to HAA. Mrs. Warda Aouissi and Mr. Salah-Eddine Aouissi helped conducting this study. Dr. Ibrahim Belabed and Mr. Walid Makrouf assisted in field work with specimen handling. Dr. Saifi Merdas helped with drawing the map of the study area. The anonymous reviewers' comments improved the manuscript.

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