Dressed to impress: breeding plumage as a reliable signal of innate immunity

Animal signals involved in sexual selection are often indicators of individual quality. The assumption that sexual characters such as breeding plumage may indicate immune state has rarely been tested in free-living migratory birds, particularly in relation to innate immunity. If sexual characters indeed reflect immune condition, then these could be used to evaluate individual quality. Melanin is a common pigment used in animal communication that mitigates the effects of oxidative stress and has positive effects on energy homeostasis, important functions during the strenuous activity of long-distance flights. However, melanin is also immunosuppressive, and the melanised patches of breeding plumage may to some extent compromise immune responsiveness. We studied melanin-based secondary sexual characters (SSC) in a long-distance migratory wader, the Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), and found that breeding plumage features of male and female godwits are linked to components of innate imm...