A Red Bird in a Brown Bag: The Function and Evolution of Colorful Plumage in the House Finch

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More About This Textbook

Overview


This is an account of studies of the function and evolution of colorful plumage in the House Finch. It is also an engaging study on the evolution of sexual selection in birds and a lively portrait of the challenges and constraints of experimental design facing any field investigator working with animal behavior. Part I sets the stage for modern studies of the function of plumage coloration with a review of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Part II focuses on the proximate control and present function of plumage coloration. Part III takes a more explicitly evolutionary approach to the study of plumage coloration using biogeography and phylogeny to test hypotheses for why specific forms of plumage color display have evolved. It concludes with an account of comparative studies that have been conducted in the House Finch and other cardueline finches and the insight these studies have provided on the evolution of carotenoid-based ornamental coloration.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780195148480
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • Publication date: 9/26/2002
  • Series: Oxford Ornithology Series
  • Pages: 336
  • Product dimensions: 9.30 (w) x 6.20 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Auburn University
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Table of Contents

Part 1. Prelude
1. Darwinism and Wallacism: A Brief Account of the Long History of the Study of Plumage Coloration
2. A Red Bird in a Brown Bag: An Introduction to the House Finch
3. In the Eye of the Beholder: Color Vision and the Quantification of Color
Part 2. The Proximate Control and Function of Red Plumage
4. You Are What You Eat: Plumage Pigments and Carotenoid Physiology
5. A Matter of Condition: The Effects of Environment on Plumage Coloration
6. Darwin Vindicated: Female Choice and Sexual Selection in the House Finch
7. Fine Fathers and Good Genes: The Direct and Indirect Benefits of Female Choice
8. Studs, Duds, and Studly Duds: Plumage Coloration, Hormones, and Dominance
9. The Feeling's Mutual: Female Plumage Coloration and Male Mate Choice
Part 3. Biogeography and the Evolution of Colorful Plumage
10. From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli (New York): Populations, Subspecies, and Geographic Variation in Ornamental Coloration
11. Why Red?: The Evolution of Color Display
12. Epilogue Glossary References Index

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