Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Eggshell Pigment Composition Covaries With Phylogeny, Kaat Brulez, Ivan Miksik, Christopher R. Cooney, Mark E. Hauber, Paul George Lovell, Golo Maurer, Steven J. Portugal, Douglas Russell, Silas James Reynolds, Phillip Cassey

Publications and Research

No single hypothesis is likely to explain the diversity in eggshell coloration and patterning across birds, suggesting that eggshell appearance is most likely to have evolved to fulfill many nonexclusive functions. By controlling for nonindependent phylogenetic associations between related species, we describe this diversity using museum eggshells of 71 British breeding passerine species to examine how eggshell pigment composition and concentrations vary with phylogeny and with life-history and nesting ecology traits. Across species, concentrations of biliverdin and protoporphyrin, the two main pigments found in eggshells, were strongly and positively correlated, and both pigments strongly covaried with phylogenetic relatedness. Controlling for …