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1 March 2017 Glowing in the light: fluorescence of bill plates in the Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella)
Christy N. Wails, Eva D. Gruber, Ethan Slattery, Lucy Smith, Heather L. Major
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Abstract

We examined the fluorescence of ornaments among three auklet species: Least Auklets (Aethia pusilla), Crested Auklets (Aethia cristatella), and Parakeet Auklets (Aethia psittacula) on Gareloi Island, Alaska during the 2015 breeding season. We found that the ornamental bill plates of Crested Auklets fluoresced, but bill ornaments of Least Auklets and bills of Parakeet Auklets did not. We also found that none of the feathers in these three species exhibited fluorescence. We suggest that differences in ornamentation and fluorescence may be related to life-history strategies associated with sexual selection and predator avoidance.

Christy N. Wails, Eva D. Gruber, Ethan Slattery, Lucy Smith, and Heather L. Major "Glowing in the light: fluorescence of bill plates in the Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella)," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 129(1), 155-158, (1 March 2017). https://doi.org/10.1676/1559-4491-129.1.155
Received: 26 November 2015; Accepted: 1 April 2016; Published: 1 March 2017
KEYWORDS
Aethia auklets
bill plates
breeding ornaments
fluorescence
mate selection
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