Ultraviolet reflectance by the skin of nestlings

Violaine Jourdie, Benoît Moureau, Andrew T. D. Bennett and Philipp Heeb ()
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Violaine Jourdie: University of Lausanne
Benoît Moureau: University of Lausanne
Andrew T. D. Bennett: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
Philipp Heeb: University of Lausanne

Nature, 2004, vol. 431, issue 7006, 262-262

Abstract: Abstract Birds can perceive the reflectance of ultraviolet light by biological structures1,2,3,4,5. Here we show that the skin of the mouth and body of starling nestlings substantially reflects light in the ultraviolet range and that young in which this reflectance is reduced will gain less mass than controls, despite low background levels of ultraviolet and visible light in the nest. We suggest that this ultraviolet reflectance from starling nestlings and its contrast with surrounding surfaces are important for parental decisions about food allocation.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/431262a

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