Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in developing primary feathers: a test of the compensational growth hypothesis

Abstract

The study of asymmetry ontogeny may reveal the mechanisms controlling the development of bilaterally symmetrical characters and the causes of asymmetry. In birds, flight feather asymmetries appear to increase at the beginning of growth and decrease at the end of their development. It has been proposed that such a pattern could be proximately caused by a developmental mechanism of compensational growth between the left and right wings, which should act to restore trait symmetry at the end of growth. In this study, I tested the hypothesis of the existence of a mechanism of compensational growth by performing an experiment, which consisted of provoking small asymmetries in the seventh primary feathers of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) by inducing the two feathers (one each side) to moult two days apart. On each side, the feathers grew in a similar way, independently of the growth of the other side. Feather length asymmetries were shortened with the advance of growth. However, the differences in time of growth persisted throughout development. These results do not support the existence of a mechanism of compensational growth. Primary feather's asymmetries could decrease at the end of growth because the growth of the two feathers follows a programmed trajectory, which tends towards a certain maximum potential size.