Gloger's Rule, Feather-Degrading Bacteria, and Color Variation Among Song Sparrows¶
Burtt, & Ichida. (2004). Gloger's Rule, Feather-Degrading Bacteria, and Color Variation Among Song Sparrows. The Condor.
Cited by¶
1 citation across 1 artifact.
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Domain-specific¶
- Gloger's Rule
- The more recent and better-supported mechanistic account, developed empirically by Burtt and Ichida (2004), invokes feather-degradation resistance: melanised feathers are structurally tougher and more resistant to the feather-degrading bacteria (Bacillus licheniformis and related species) that are substantially more abundant and active in warm, humid environments, making darker plumage directly adaptive in the conditions where the rule predicts it.
This sourceThe proposal that Gloger's rule results in part from selection for dark feathers, more resistant than light ones to bacterial degradation, which is a severe problem in humid habitats. Study of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) comparing the pale, arid-range subspecies M. m. fallax of southeastern Arizona with the dark M. m. morphna of the humid Pacific Northwest. Laboratory comparison showing that feather-degrading bacteria from humid-Northwest song sparrows degraded feathers more rapidly and more completely than bacteria from arid-Southwest sparrows.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
“We suggest that this correlation, known as Gloger's rule, results, in part, from selection for dark feathers that are more resistant than light feathers to bacterial degradation, which is a severe problem in humid habitats where bacteria thrive and a lesser problem in arid habitats.”
- The more recent and better-supported mechanistic account, developed empirically by Burtt and Ichida (2004), invokes feather-degradation resistance: melanised feathers are structurally tougher and more resistant to the feather-degrading bacteria (Bacillus licheniformis and related species) that are substantially more abundant and active in warm, humid environments, making darker plumage directly adaptive in the conditions where the rule predicts it.
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