| the molecular basis of an avian plumage polymorphism in the wild: a melanocortin-1-receptor point mutation is perfectly associated with the melanic plumage morph of the bananaquit, coereba flaveola. | evolution depends on natural selection acting on phenotypic variation, but the genes responsible for phenotypic variation in natural populations of vertebrates are rarely known. the molecular genetic basis for plumage color variation has not been described in any wild bird. bananaquits (coereba flaveola) are small passerine birds that occur as two main plumage variants, a widespread yellow morph with dark back and yellow breast and a virtually all black melanic morph. a candidate gene for this c ... | 2001 | 11369199 |
| a window on the genetics of evolution: mc1r and plumage colouration in birds. | melanins are a ubiquitous component of plumage colouration in birds and serve a wide variety of functions. although the genetic control of melanism has been studied in chickens and other domestic species, little was known about the molecular genetics of melanin distribution in wild birds until recently. studies have now revealed that a single locus, the melanocortin-1 receptor (mc1r) locus, is responsible for melanic polymorphisms in at least three unrelated species: the bananaquit, the snow goo ... | 2005 | 16087416 |
| association of a glu92lys substitution in mc1r with extended brown in japanese quail (coturnix japonica). | we investigated melanocortin 1 receptor (mc1r) as a candidate locus for the extended brown phenotype in quail, in which there is a general darkening throughout the plumage. an initial screen of variation in mc1r in extended brown and in wild-type quails revealed two polymorphic non-synonymous sites. one of these sites, a g-to-a substitution leading to a glu92lys mutation, was perfectly associated with plumage phenotype; all extended brown birds were homozygous for lys92. co-segregation of the gl ... | 2006 | 16734695 |
| pollination ecology and breeding systems of five gesneria species from puerto rico. | the genus gesneria diversified in the greater antilles giving rise to various floral designs corresponding to different pollination syndromes. the goal of this study was to characterize the pollination and breeding systems of five puerto rican gesneria species. | 2008 | 18424471 |
| time-activity budgets and behaviour of the amazilia hummingbird, amazilia amazilia (apodiformes: trochilidae) in an urban environment. | this study deals with the time-activity budgets of amazilia amazilia, a territorial hummingbird, and its preferences for different flower species and perches in the gardens of lima (peru) in september 2001. a. amazilia spent an important part of its time resting on perches (ca. 80%) and only 15.5% for foraging, devoted essentially to flower visitation and only 0.3% for hunting and drinking water. territorial defence accounted for 2% of total time, mostly against coereba flaveola, an introduced n ... | 2006 | 18491628 |
| low diversity and high intra-island variation in prevalence of avian haemoproteus parasites on barbados, lesser antilles. | common bird species were screened during may and june 2007 on barbados for haemosporidian parasites (haemosporida) of the genera haemoproteus and plasmodium to determine whether the low parasite diversity reported in previous studies might have reflected limited sampling. pcr screening and dna sequencing revealed a single predominant lineage of haemoproteus identified as h. coatneyi. sixty-two out of 257 birds were infected with haemoproteus spp. on barbados in 2007. fifty-nine of the infections ... | 2009 | 19627630 |
| surveys for ectoparasites on wildlife associated with amblyomma variegatum (acari: ixodidae)-infested livestock in st. croix, u.s. virgin islands. | surveys in 2001, 2005, and 2006 attempted to determine the role of wildlife in maintenance and dissemination of the tropical bont tick, amblyomma variegatum (f.) (acari: ixodidae), in st. croix, u.s. virgin islands. small mammals; birds; white-tailed deer, odocoileus virginianus (zimmermann); and feral cattle, bos taurus l., were examined at nine premises, in mountainous rain forest, and in surrounding areas in western st. croix, an area including and central to all known bont tick-infested prem ... | 2009 | 19960701 |
| host phylogeography and beta diversity in avian haemosporidian (plasmodiidae) assemblages of the lesser antilles. | 1. we estimated the correlation between host phylogeographical structure and beta diversity of avian haemosporidian assemblages of passerine birds to determine the degree to which parasite communities change with host evolution, expressed as genetic divergence between island populations, and we investigated whether differences among islands in the haemosporidia of a particular host species reflect beta diversity in the entire parasite assemblage, beta diversity in vectors, turnover of bird speci ... | 2011 | 21426344 |
| birds as potential pollinators of the spathodea nilotica (bignoniaceae) in the urban environment. | birds play crucial role on the pollination of many plants. however, little is known about the interactions between nectarivorous neotropical birds and exotic angiosperms. s. nilotica is an exotic african plant widely used in brazilian urban landscaping. however, it has been poorly studied in relation to its interactions with neotropical birds. in this way, we studied the feeding nectar strategies and the interspecific antagonistic behaviours among nectarivorous neotropical birds to verify the bi ... | 2013 | 24789388 |
| relative pollination effectiveness of floral visitors of pitcairnia angustifolia (bromeliaceae). | the effectiveness of flower visitors as pollinators will determine their potential role as selective agents on flower traits. pitcairnia angustifolia has floral characters that would fit pollination by long-billed hummingbirds, and they should be the most effective pollinators for this plant. to test this prediction, we characterized the behavior of visitors toward flowers and their pollination effectiveness. coereba flaveola (bananaquits) was the most frequent flower visitor and acted as a prim ... | 2007 | 21636411 |
| the genome sequence and insights into the immunogenetics of the bananaquit (passeriformes: coereba flaveola). | avian genomics, especially of non-model species, is in its infancy relative to mammalian genomics. here, we describe the sequencing, assembly, and annotation of a new avian genome, that of the bananaquit coereba flaveola (passeriformes: thraupidae). we produced ∼30-fold coverage of the genome with an assembly size of ca. 1.2 gb, including approximately 16,500 annotated genes. passerine birds, such as the bananaquit, are commonly infected by avian malarial parasites (haemosporida), which presumab ... | 2017 | 27888301 |
| independent appearance of an innovative feeding behaviour in antillean bullfinches. | behavioural innovations have been largely documented in birds and are thought to provide advantages in changing environments. however, the mechanisms by which behavioural innovations spread remain poorly known. two major mechanisms are supposed to play a fundamental role: innovation diffusion by social learning and independent appearance of the same innovation in different individuals. direct evidence for the independent emergence of the same innovation in different individuals is, however, lack ... | 2013 | 23408337 |
| demographic history and genetic diversity in west indian coereba flaveola populations. | the bananaquit (coereba flaveola) has been well studied throughout the caribbean region from a phylogenetic perspective. however, data concerning the population genetics and long-term demography of this bird species are lacking. in this study, we focused on three populations within the lesser antilles and one on puerto rico and assessed genetic and demographic processes, using five nuclear and two mitochondrial markers. we found that genetic diversity of bananaquits on puerto rico exceeds that o ... | 2012 | 22855326 |
| isospora coerebae n. sp. (apicomplexa: eimeriidae) from the bananaquit coereba flaveola (passeriformes: coerebidae) in south america. | the present study describes a new isosporoid coccidian parasite from the bananaquit coereba flaveola, in brazil. this new species is similar to i. cagasebi, but it can be distinguished by the size and shape of stieda and susbstieda bodies. isospora coerebae n. sp. oocysts are spheroidal to sub-spheroidal, 24.8 × 23.3 μm, with a smooth and bi-layered wall, ~1.2 μm. micropyle, oocyst residuum and polar granule are absent. sporocysts are elongate ovoidal, 17.9 × 10.9 μm. stieda and substieda bodies ... | 2011 | 21439227 |
| the dynamic evolutionary history of the bananaquit (coereba flaveola) in the caribbean revealed by a multigene analysis. | the bananaquit (coereba flaveola) is a small nectivorous and frugivorous emberizine bird (order passeriformes) that is an abundant resident throughout the caribbean region. we used multi-gene analyses to investigate the evolutionary history of this species throughout its distribution in the west indies and in south and middle america. we sequenced six mitochondrial genes (3744 base pairs) and three nuclear genes (2049 base pairs) for forty-four bananaquits and three outgroup species. we infer th ... | 2008 | 18718030 |
| sugar preferences, absorption efficiency and water influx in a neotropical nectarivorous passerine, the bananaquit (coereba flaveola). | nectarivory has evolved repeatedly in a number of unrelated bird taxa throughout the world and nectar feeding birds, regardless of their taxonomic affiliation, display convergent foraging and food processing adaptations that allow them to subsist on weak sugar solutions. however, phylogeny influences sugar type preferences of nectarivores. we investigated sugar preferences, assimilation efficiency and water flux in a neotropical honeycreeper, the bananaquit (coereba flaveola; coerebidae), a memb ... | 2004 | 15556397 |
| evolutionary genetics of the melanocortin-1 receptor in vertebrates. | the molecular genetic basis of adaptive change in phenotype is a major outstanding issue in evolutionary biology. evolutionary change in coat and plumage color is a promising system for making progress in this field. most notably, recent work on the molecular genetic basis of hair and feather color has identified several genes which are candidates for involvement in evolutionary color change in mammals and birds. we have investigated the evolution of one of these candidate genes, the melanocorti ... | 2003 | 12851330 |
| dynamics of avian haemosporidian assemblages through millennial time scales inferred from insular biotas of the west indies. | although introduced hemosporidian (malaria) parasites (apicomplexa: haemosporida) have hastened the extinction of endemic bird species in the hawaiian islands and perhaps elsewhere, little is known about the temporal dynamics of endemic malaria parasite populations. haemosporidian parasites do not leave informative fossils, and records of population change are lacking beyond a few decades. here, we take advantage of the isolation of west indian land-bridge islands by rising postglacial sea level ... | 2017 | 28607060 |
| evolutionary genetics: the evolution of plumage patterns. | the identification and sequencing of a gene affecting melanin production in the bananaquit, a bird species notable for its polymorphic plumage colour, paves the way for much greater understanding of the evolution of plumage patterns in birds, and the developmental modulations involved in producing new patterns. | 2001 | 11378407 |
| historical biogeography of the bananaquit (coereba flaveola) in the caribbean region: a mitochondrial dna assessment. | we analyzed mitochondrial dna (mtdna) restriction-site variation in bananaquit (coereba flaveola; aves, coerebinae) populations sampled on 12 caribbean islands and at 5 continental localities in central america and northern south america. multiple fixed restriction-site differences genetically defined several regional bananaquit populations. an mtdna clade representing all jamaican bananaquits was the most divergent; the estimated average sequence divergence (dxy ) between jamaican and all other ... | 1994 | 28564451 |
| an analysis of a morph ratio cline in the bananaquit (coereba flaveola) on grenada, west indies. | | 1981 | 28563379 |
| parasites in space and time: a case study of haemosporidian spatiotemporal prevalence in urban birds. | prevalence responses to anthropic factors differ across hosts and parasite species. we here analyzed the spatiotemporal variation of avian haemosporidian prevalence in bird assemblages of the mooswald forest (i.e., urban greenspace; freiburg, germany), in response to local environmental features (e.g., water sources, human presence (visited)/absence (unvisited)) and bird-level traits (e.g., body condition, age, sex) in 2 years. we used a nested pcr protocol (mitochondrial (mt)dna cytochrome b (c ... | 2019 | 30673588 |
| molecular identification of haemosporidia in avian endemics of gorgona island within a context for the eastern tropical pacific region. | island bird populations and their obligate blood parasites are of interest for understanding the accumulation of biodiversity and the evolutionary relationship with their mainland congeners. we examined avian haemosporidia cytochrome b gene among terrestrial birds on gorgona island national park, colombia. three haemoproteus haplotype groups found on gorgona island have a higher genetic similarity to haemoproteus found in the eastern tropical pacific than those documented in africa, asia, europe ... | 2020 | 31751754 |
| immunogenetic response of the bananaquit in the face of malarial parasites. | in the arms race between hosts and parasites, genes involved in the immune response are targets for natural selection. toll-like receptor (tlr) genes play a role in parasite detection as part of the innate immune system whereas major histocompatibility complex (mhc) genes encode proteins that display antigens as part of the vertebrate adaptive immune system. thus, both gene families are under selection pressure from pathogens. the bananaquit (coereba flaveola) is a passerine bird that is a commo ... | 2019 | 31113360 |