Destacados
- ¡Abierta convocatoria para proyectos de investigación en la ICTS- Doñana!
- La Fundación Jaime González-Gordon ofrece cuatro becas para el desarrollo de Trabajos de Fin de Máster sobre Doñana
- Cinco contratos para desarrollar la tesis doctoral en la Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC
- Actividades de la Estación Biológica de Doñana en la Noche Europea de los Investigadores
- La ICTS-RBD se prepara para la 30ª Campaña de Anillamiento de Paseriformes Migratorios en Doñana
Noticias
“Planned obsolescence” in the plumage of larks
Larks (Alaudidae) present a heavily worn plumage for the most part of the annual cycle, to the point that identification field guides typically depict lark species in both fresh and worn plumages. The ephemeral nature of lark feathers is even more strange knowing that larks are among the few passerines undergoing a single annual molt. Contrarily, a majority of songbirds moult feathers twice a year. Larks are dull-colored ground-dwelling birds living in open areas, thus occupying a niche where abrasion by air and soil particles is maximal. Authors observed that lark feathers have unmelanized fringes and are prone to breakage. Larks may have turned need into a virtue: they possibly cannot avoid a premature damage of their fragile plumage, and instead of incurring the cost of molting repeatedly, they gain the advantage of a form of crypsis known as disruptive camouflage. When feathers break, they create a serrated random pattern, cancelling out the effect of smooth lines more easily detected by predators. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es: Negro et al (2019) Adaptive plumage wear for increased crypsis in the plumage of Palearctic larks (Alaudidae). Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2771
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.2771- Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular
- Laboratorio SIG y Teledetección (LAST)
- Laboratorio de Ecología Química
- Laboratorio de Ecología Acuática
- Laboratorio de Ecofisiología
- Laboratorio de Isótopos Estables
- Unidad de Experimentación Animal
- Visita virtual
- Unidad de Seguimiento
- Laboratorio de Camaras climaticas