Contents -- Part I. Basic Ptilochronology -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Ptilochronology, nutritional condition, and fitness -- 1.2 Other indices of nutritional condition -- 1.3 Feather growth as an index of nutritional condition -- 1.4 Criticisms of ptilochronology -- 1.5 Summary -- 2 Can reduced nutritional condition really cause narrowed growth bars? -- 2.1 Summary -- 3 Does any factor other than nutritional condition control feather growth? -- 3.1 Annual cycles -- 3.2 Non-nutritional response to cold temperature and wind -- 3.3 Follicle history -- 3.4 Summary -- Part II. Applied Ptilochronology -- 4 Habitat quality -- 4.1 Territory size -- 4.2 Successional stage -- 4.3 Moisture -- 4.4 Anthropogenic modifications -- 4.5 Summary -- 5 Nutritional consequences of self-cached food -- 5.1 Summary -- 6 Social behavior -- 6.1 Intraspecific social behavior -- 6.2 Interspecific social behavior -- 6.3 Summary -- 7 Individual quality -- 7.1 Sexual selection and natural selection -- 7.2 Growth bar width as an honest signal -- 7.3 Feather pigment color as an honest signal -- 7.4 Feather structural color as an honest signal -- 7.5 Carotenoids versus melanins -- 7.6 Multiple signals of quality -- 7.7 Fluctuating asymmetry -- 7.8 Summary -- 8 Reproductive effort -- 8.1 Brood size -- 8.2 Breeding and molting -- 8.3 Tests of theories of reproductive effort -- 8.4 Summary -- 9 Nestling condition -- 9.1 Summary -- 10 Prolonged brood-care -- 10.1 Adult nutritional condition -- 10.2 Nutritional condition of retained offspring -- 10.3 Summary -- 11 Taking stock and looking ahead -- 11.1 Conceptual issues -- 11.2 What causes growth bars? -- 11.3 On 24-hours' worth of feather growth per growth bar -- 11.4 Linking growth bar width and nutritional condition -- 11.5 Potentially confounding factors -- 11.6 Original versus induced feathers.

11.7 Controlling for structural body size -- 11.8 Feather growth lag times -- 11.9 Relations among growth bar width, feather length, and feather mass -- 11.10 Ptilochronology and fitness -- 11.11 Ptilochronolgy and conservation biology -- 11.12 Correlation versus causation -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.