The role of colours and colour patterns in behavioural ecology has been extensively studied
in a variety of contexts and taxa, while almost overlooked in many others. For decades …

Delayed plumage maturation is the delayed acquisition of a definitive colour and pattern of
plumage until after the first potential breeding period in birds. Here we provide a …

Structural colorations originate from self-organized microstructures, which interact with light
in a complex way to produce brilliant colors seen everywhere in nature. Research in this …

Functional traits are the essential phenotypes that underlie an organism's life history and
ecology. Although biologists have long recognized that intraspecific variation is …

It is well known that some kinds of animal have surprisingly brilliant colors showing beautiful
iridescence. These colors are called structural colors, and are thought to originate from …

Migratory birds experience changes in their environment and diet during seasonal
migrations, thus requiring interactions between diet and gut microbes. Understanding the co …

Gut microbiota and host interactions co-evolve and develop into stably adapted microbial
communities and play vital roles in maintaining the health of organisms. Diet is supposed to …

Male–male competition shapes resource distributions and reproductive success among
individuals, and can drive trait evolution when phenotypes differ in competitive abilities …

The role of structural coloration, which is produced by the optical interactions among micro-
and nanostructures in the feather barb or barbules, is still unclear in the context of sexual or …

It has been observationally confirmed that the color of birds, such as kingfisher and red-
flanked bluetail, is a structural color owing to the interference of the light within a sponge …