Birds, among various other taxa, construct nests. Nests form an extended phenotype of the individual building it. Nests are used to extend control over the conditions in which offspring develop, and are therefore commonly considered to be shaped by selection. Nevertheless, scarcely any scientific evidence exist that nest composition is under selection. Here, we demonstrate with data from over 400 blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nests collected over 8 years that a higher proportion of feathers in the nest lining is positively associated with the probability of offspring to recruit as a breeding adult later in life. Strikingly, the extended phenotype (nest) was associated stronger with recruitment probability than phenotypic traits that have typically been considered important in selection (laying date, and female size and condition). Our findings suggest that the choice of nest material could be a maternal behavior with potential lifelong effects on her offspring.

中文翻译：

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用更多的羽毛衬里的巢会增加后代的募集概率：在蓝山雀中选择扩展表型

鸟类以及其他各种生物都筑巢。巢构成建筑物个体的扩展表型。巢被用来扩展对后代发育条件的控制，因此通常被认为是通过选择而形成的。然而，几乎没有任何科学证据表明巢的组成正在选择中。在这里，我们用400多个蓝山雀（Cyanistes caeruleus）收集了8年以上的鸟巢，表明鸟巢衬里中较高比例的羽毛与后代在以后的生活中被征召成年成年鸟的可能性呈正相关。引人注目的是，扩展表型（巢）与招募概率的联系比通常被认为在选择中重要的表型性状（产蛋日期，雌性大小和状况）更强。我们的发现表明，选择巢材料可能是对她的后代有潜在终身影响的产妇行为。