La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	The origin of feather holes: a word of caution
Auteurs :	Csongor I. Vágási, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Journal of Avian Biology (45(5) SEP 2014)
Article en page(s) :	431-436
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	Antagonistic processes between parasites and their hosts are hallmarks of evolutionary ecology. A group of parasites is adapted to feed on feather keratin. In doing so, they inflict a variety of costs on avian hosts by causing feathers to degrade faster. Feather holes represent a class of feather damage that is attributed to the chewing bites of Phthirapteran lice. Consequently, hole counts were used as an approximation of lice infestation intensity when studying bird-lice interaction. Here, I express some reservations regarding this practice. I survey the literature concerning feather holes and the state of the hole-lice concept, highlight some uncertainties regarding its reliability, offer possible alternative explanations for the origin of holes, and suggest directions for future investigations. I conclude that the origin of holes is still unknown, and so a prudent approach is desirable when interpreting the relationship between avian phenotype or fitness and lice infestation inferred from hole counts.

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