Although feathers are the unifying characteristic of all birds, our understanding of the
causes, mechanisms, patterns and consequences of the feather moult process lags behind …

Fault bars are narrow malformations in feathers oriented almost perpendicular to the rachis
where the feather vein and even the rachis may break. Breaks in the barbs and barbules …

The first comprehensive review of all aspects of the biology of moult, drawing information
from across the literature and in all birds, from penguins to passerines. Feathers are …

Annual cycles of animals consist of distinct life history phases linked in a unified sequence,
and processes taking place in one season can influence an individual's performance in …

Globally, high elevation habitats have been independently colonized by taxa separated by
millions of years of evolution. Mountains thus represent excellent systems to study how …

Although the lethal consequences of extreme heat are increasingly reported in the literature,
the fitness costs of exposure to sublethal high air temperatures, typically identified in the 30 …

In urban environments, wild vertebrates have to adjust to new environmental challenges (eg,
modified resource availability, increased chemical, noise and light pollutions). However …

The functional significance of intra‐and interspecific structural variations in the flight feathers
of birds is poorly understood. Here, a phylogenetic comparative analysis of four structural …

The effects of environmental perturbations or stressors on individual states can be carried
over to subsequent life stages and ultimately affect survival and reproduction. The …

Moulting strategies in birds have evolved to avoid overlap with, or prepare for, other
demanding parts of the annual cycle, such as reproduction or migration. When moulting for …