Unmasking black and yellow in a common garden: genetic and environmental drivers of urban colour divergence

Clicks: 3
ID: 313914
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #121 of 244 articles by views in international journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 244 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Communication signals of many taxa, such as colouration, differ in urban areas compared to natural habitats. However, the mechanisms shaping these divergences-genetic or environmental-remain unclear. We studied urban and forest great tits (Parus major) from populations where carotenoid-based colouration is reduced in urban habitats compared to forest, and first examined whether they differed in their melanic patches. We then used a common garden experiment to determine if the colour differences were maintained when birds were raised from the unincubated egg stage in a common environment. In the wild, urban males showed smaller black ties than forest males, and along an urbanisation gradient within urban habitat. Common garden birds of urban origin exhibited reduced chromatic yellow breast and smaller ties compared to forest-origin birds. In contrast, common garden birds from both habitats did not differ in yellow brightness or ultraviolet chroma. These results suggest that divergences in carotenoid saturation and melanin patch are primarily driven by genetic changes or early maternal investment in eggs, whereas yellow brightness or ultraviolet chroma are more environmentally determined. These findings provide information on the mechanisms driving phenotypic divergence in urban birds, with potential implications for mate choice, social dynamics, and evolutionary trajectories in anthropogenic landscapes.
Reference Key
openalex_W7160665523 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Lisa Sandmeyer, Arnaud Grégoire, P. Samuel, Amélie Fargevieille, Baptiste Chenet, Marc Romans, Anne Charmantier, Claire Doutrelant
Journal international journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/evolut/qpag081
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag081
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.