Function and underlying mechanisms of seasonal colour moulting in mammals and birds: what keeps them changing in a warming world?
- PMID:29504224
- DOI: 10.1111/brv.12405
Function and underlying mechanisms of seasonal colour moulting in mammals and birds: what keeps them changing in a warming world?
Abstract
Animals that occupy temperate and polar regions have specialized traits that help them survive in harsh, highly seasonal environments. One particularly important adaptation is seasonal coat colour (SCC) moulting. Over 20 species of birds and mammals distributed across the northern hemisphere undergo complete, biannual colour change from brown in the summer to completely white in the winter. But as climate change decreases duration of snow cover, seasonally winter white species (including the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus, Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus and willow ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus) become highly contrasted against dark snowless backgrounds. The negative consequences of camouflage mismatch and adaptive potential is of high interest for conservation. Here we provide the first comprehensive review across birds and mammals of the adaptive value and mechanisms underpinning SCC moulting. We found that across species, the main function of SCC moults is seasonal camouflage against snow, and photoperiod is the main driver of the moult phenology. Next, although many underlying mechanisms remain unclear, mammalian species share similarities in some aspects of hair growth, neuroendocrine control, and the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on moult phenology. The underlying basis of SCC moults in birds is less understood and differs from mammals in several aspects. Lastly, our synthesis suggests that due to limited plasticity in SCC moulting, evolutionary adaptation will be necessary to mediate future camouflage mismatch and a detailed understanding of the SCC moulting will be needed to manage populations effectively under climate change.
Keywords: Siberian hamster; arctic fox; camouflage mismatch; climate change; coat colour moult; hare; phenotypic mismatch; ptarmigan; seasonal adaptation; weasel.
© 2018 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Similar articles
- Snowshoe hares display limited phenotypic plasticity to mismatch in seasonal camouflage.Zimova M, Mills LS, Lukacs PM, Mitchell MS.Zimova M, et al.Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Mar 11;281(1782):20140029. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0029. Print 2014 May 7.Proc Biol Sci. 2014.PMID:24619446Free PMC article.
- Colour moult phenology and camouflage mismatch in polymorphic populations of Arctic foxes.Zimova M, Moberg D, Mills LS, Dietz AJ, Angerbjörn A.Zimova M, et al.Biol Lett. 2022 Nov;18(11):20220334. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0334. Epub 2022 Nov 16.Biol Lett. 2022.PMID:36382371Free PMC article.
- The transcriptional landscape of seasonal coat colour moult in the snowshoe hare.Ferreira MS, Alves PC, Callahan CM, Marques JP, Mills LS, Good JM, Melo-Ferreira J.Ferreira MS, et al.Mol Ecol. 2017 Aug;26(16):4173-4185. doi: 10.1111/mec.14177. Epub 2017 Jun 7.Mol Ecol. 2017.PMID:28500774
- Convergence of biannual moulting strategies across birds and mammals.Beltran RS, Burns JM, Breed GA.Beltran RS, et al.Proc Biol Sci. 2018 May 16;285(1878):20180318. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0318.Proc Biol Sci. 2018.PMID:29769361Free PMC article.Review.
- Climate change impacts on wildlife in a High Arctic archipelago - Svalbard, Norway.Descamps S, Aars J, Fuglei E, Kovacs KM, Lydersen C, Pavlova O, Pedersen ÅØ, Ravolainen V, Strøm H.Descamps S, et al.Glob Chang Biol. 2017 Feb;23(2):490-502. doi: 10.1111/gcb.13381. Epub 2016 Jun 28.Glob Chang Biol. 2017.PMID:27250039Review.
Cited by
- The effectiveness of eyespots and masquerade in protecting artificial prey across ontogenetic and seasonal shifts.Postema EG.Postema EG.Curr Zool. 2021 Oct 4;68(4):451-458. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoab082. eCollection 2022 Aug.Curr Zool. 2021.PMID:36090146Free PMC article.
- Contrasting seasonal effects of climate change influence density in a cold-adapted species.Kumar AV, Zimova M, Martin TE, Mills LS.Kumar AV, et al.Glob Chang Biol. 2022 Nov;28(21):6228-6238. doi: 10.1111/gcb.16352. Epub 2022 Aug 22.Glob Chang Biol. 2022.PMID:35899554Free PMC article.
- Altitude, latitude and climate zone as determinants of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) coat colour change.Stokes AW, Hofmeester TR, Thorsen NH, Odden J, Linnell JDC, Pedersen S.Stokes AW, et al.Ecol Evol. 2023 Oct 1;13(10):e10548. doi: 10.1002/ece3.10548. eCollection 2023 Oct.Ecol Evol. 2023.PMID:37791291Free PMC article.
- Introgression drives repeated evolution of winter coat color polymorphism in hares.Giska I, Farelo L, Pimenta J, Seixas FA, Ferreira MS, Marques JP, Miranda I, Letty J, Jenny H, Hackländer K, Magnussen E, Melo-Ferreira J.Giska I, et al.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Nov 26;116(48):24150-24156. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1910471116. Epub 2019 Nov 11.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019.PMID:31712446Free PMC article.
- Getting ready for the winter: Timing and determinants of molt in an alpine ungulate.Déry F, Hamel S, Côté SD.Déry F, et al.Ecol Evol. 2019 Feb 14;9(5):2920-2932. doi: 10.1002/ece3.4970. eCollection 2019 Mar.Ecol Evol. 2019.PMID:30891226Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Related information
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Research Materials
Miscellaneous