GLOGER'S RULE, FEATHER-DEGRADING BACTERIA, AND COLOR VARIATION AMONG SONG SPARROWS

The Condor ◽  
10.1650/7383 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward H. Burtt ◽  
Jann M. Ichida
The Condor ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward H. Burtt ◽  
Jann M. Ichida

AbstractFeathers tend to be darkly colored in habitats where relative humidity is high and pale where it is low. 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. In May and June 2000–2002 we sampled feather-degrading bacteria (Bacillus licheniformis) from the plumage of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) in southeastern Arizona and northwestern Washington. Under standardized laboratory conditions, feather-degrading bacteria from the plumage of sparrows in the humid Northwest degraded feathers more rapidly and more completely than feather-degrading bacteria from sparrows of the arid Southwest. The differences in feather-degrading bacteria and in relative humidity produce a difference in the intensity of selection, which in turn produces the difference in color described in Gloger's rule.La Regla de Gloger, Bacterias Degradantes de Plumas y Variación de Color en Melospiza melodiaResumen. Las plumas tienden a ser de tonos obscuros en hábitats donde la humedad relativa es alta y más pálidas en hábitats donde la humedad relativa es baja. Esta correlación, conocida como la regla de Gloger, se aplica a muchas especies de aves a través del mundo. Sugerimos que la regla de Gloger es, en parte, un producto evolutivo de la selección por plumas obscuras, que son más resistentes a la degradación bacteriana que las plumas claras. La degradación bacteriana es un problema severo en hábitats húmedos donde prosperan las bacterias y un problema menor en hábitats áridos. En mayo y junio de 2000 a 2002 tomamos muestras de bacterias degradantes de plumas (Bacillus licheniformis) del Melospiza melodia fallax, que tiene plumaje pálido y reside en la parte sureste del estado de Arizona, y comparamos la incidencia y actividad de estas bacterias con las de aquellas encontradas en el plumaje obscuro de M. m. morphna, que reside de los bosques húmedos del noroeste del estado de Washington. Sin embargo, bajo condiciones estandarizadas de laboratorio, las bacterias obtenidas de M. m. morphna, degradaron las plumas más rápida y completamente que las bacterias de M. m. fallax. Las diferencias sugieren que las plumas obscuras de M. m. morphna del noroeste húmedo están sujetas a selección más intensa para resistir la degradación bacteriana que las plumas claras del gorrión del suroeste árido. La diferencia en humedad relativa produce una diferencia en la intensidad de selección, que a su vez produce la diferencia en color descrita en la regla de Gloger.


The Auk ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael S Marcondes ◽  
Katherine Faust Stryjewski ◽  
Robb T Brumfield

Abstract Gloger’s rule is a classic ecogeographical principle that, in its simplest version, predicts animals should be darker in warmer and wetter climates. In a rarely tested more complex version, it also predicts animals should be more rufous in warmer and drier climates. The Variable Antshrike (Thamnophilus caerulescens) is a widely distributed South American passerine that presents an impressive amount of plumage color variation and occupies a wide variety of climatic conditions. Moreover, genetic and vocal evidence indicate ongoing hybridization in south-central Bolivia among 3 populations with very distinct plumages. We collected color data from 232 specimens from throughout this species’ distribution to test the predictions of Gloger’s rule. We found a negative correlation between brightness and precipitation, consistent with the simple version of Gloger’s rule. In contrast, we found that birds were darker in cooler climates, contrary to the simple version of Gloger’s rule, but consistent with recent findings in other taxa. We found support for both predictions of the complex Gloger’s rule and suggest it might be driven by background matching. We conclude by concurring with a recent suggestion that the simple version of Gloger’s rule should be reformulated exclusively in terms of humidity.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael S. Marcondes ◽  
Jonathan A. Nations ◽  
Glenn F. Seeholzer ◽  
Robb T. Brumfield

AbstractGloger’s rule predicts endothermic animals should have darker colors under warm and rainy climates, but empirical studies have typically found that animals tend to be darker under cool and rainy climates. Moreover, Gloger’s rule has rarely been tested jointly with the prediction that animals occupying dark habitats should have darker colors to enhance crypsis. We aimed to disentangle the effects of climate and light environments (habitat type) as correlates of plumage brightness in a large Neotropical passerine family. We found that cooler and rainier climates are associated with darker plumage, even after accounting for habitat types, and that darker habitats are associated with darker plumage, even after accounting climate. There was an important interaction between precipitation and temperature, whereby the negative effect of temperature on brightness becomes stronger under cooler temperatures. Climate and light environments have separate but complementary effects in driving macroevolutionary patterns of plumage color variation in birds.


1966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette Groot ◽  
Evelyn Crumpton ◽  
Harry M. Grayson
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
CC Kim ◽  
GR Healey ◽  
WJ Kelly ◽  
ML Patchett ◽  
Z Jordens ◽  
...  

© 2019, International Society for Microbial Ecology. Pectin is abundant in modern day diets, as it comprises the middle lamellae and one-third of the dry carbohydrate weight of fruit and vegetable cell walls. Currently there is no specialized model organism for studying pectin fermentation in the human colon, as our collective understanding is informed by versatile glycan-degrading bacteria rather than by specialist pectin degraders. Here we show that the genome of Monoglobus pectinilyticus possesses a highly specialized glycobiome for pectin degradation, unique amongst Firmicutes known to be in the human gut. Its genome encodes a simple set of metabolic pathways relevant to pectin sugar utilization, and its predicted glycobiome comprises an unusual distribution of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) with numerous extracellular methyl/acetyl esterases and pectate lyases. We predict the M. pectinilyticus degradative process is facilitated by cell-surface S-layer homology (SLH) domain-containing proteins, which proteomics analysis shows are differentially expressed in response to pectin. Some of these abundant cell surface proteins of M. pectinilyticus share unique modular organizations rarely observed in human gut bacteria, featuring pectin-specific CAZyme domains and the cell wall-anchoring SLH motifs. We observed M. pectinilyticus degrades various pectins, RG-I, and galactan to produce polysaccharide degradation products (PDPs) which are presumably shared with other inhabitants of the human gut microbiome (HGM). This strain occupies a new ecological niche for a primary degrader specialized in foraging a habitually consumed plant glycan, thereby enriching our understanding of the diverse community profile of the HGM.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lies Indah Sutiknowati

There is an information how to identify hydrocarbon degrading bacteria for bioremediation of marine oil spill. We have Bioremediation treatment for degradation of oil spill on Pari island and need two kind of experiment there are tanks experiment (sampling 0 to 90 days) and semi enclosed system (sampling 0 to 150 days). Biostimulation with nutrients (N and P) was done to analyze biodegradation of hydrocarbon compounds. Experiment design using fertilizer Super IB and Linstar will stimulate bacteria can degrade oil, n-alkane, and alkane as poly aromatic hydrocarbon. The bacteria communities were monitored and analyzed by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) and Clone Library; oil chemistry was analyzed by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS). DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) was extracted from colonies of bacteria and sequence determination of the 16S rDNA was amplified by primers U515f and U1492r. Strains had been sequence and had similarity about 90-99% to their closest taxa by homology Blast search and few of them suspected as new species. The results showed that fertilizers gave a significant effect on alkane, PAH and oil degradation in tanks experiment but not in the field test. Dominant of the specific bacteria on this experiment were Alcanivorax, Marinobacter and Prosthecochloris. Keywords: Bioremediation, Biostimulation, DGGE, PAH, Pari Island


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 437-453
Author(s):  
Zhu Manlan ◽  
Wang Liangsheng ◽  
Zhang Huijin ◽  
Xu Yanjun ◽  
Zheng Xuchen ◽  
...  

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