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170 results for “Sexual signals”
Data from: Variation in sexual signals and defensive strategies elicits receiver-dependent shifts in attractiveness
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Data for: Characterization of a sperm motility signaling pathway in a gonochoric coral suggests conservation across sexual systems
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Data for: Decoupling of sexual signals and their underlying morphology facilitates rapid phenotypic diversification
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Data from: The evolution of sex similarities in social signals: Climatic seasonality is associated with lower sexual dimorphism and greater elaboration of female and male signals in antbirds (Thamnophilidae)
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Ripple effects in a communication network: Anti-eavesdropper defence elicits elaborated sexual signals in rival males
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Data from: Change in sexual signalling traits outruns morphological divergence across an ecological gradient in the post‐glacial radiation of the songbird genus Junco
<p>The relative roles of natural and sexual selection in promoting evolutionary lineage divergence remains controversial and difficult to assess in natural systems. Local adaptation through natural selection is known to play a central role in promoting evolutionary divergence, yet secondary sexual traits can vary widely among species in recent radiations, suggesting that sexual selection may also be important in the early stages of speciation. Here we compare rates of divergence in ecologically relevant traits (morphology) and sexually selected signaling traits (coloration) relative to neutral structure in genome-wide molecular markers, and examine patterns of variation in sexual dichromatism to explore the roles of natural and sexual selection in the diversification of the songbird genus <i>Junco </i>(Aves: Passerellidae). Juncos include divergent lineages in Central America and several dark-eyed junco (<i>J. hyemalis</i>) lineages that diversified recently as the group recolonized North America following the last glacial maximum (c.a. 18,000 years ago). We found an accelerated rate of divergence in sexually selected characters relative to ecologically relevant traits. Moreover, sexual dichromatism measurements suggested a positive relationship between the degree of color divergence and the strength of sexual selection when controlling for neutral genetic distance. We also found a positive correlation between dichromatism and latitude, which coincides with the geographic axis of decreasing lineage age in juncos but also with a steep ecological gradient. Finally, we found significant associations between genome-wide variants linked to functional genes and proxies of both sexual and natural selection. These results suggest that the joint effects of sexual and ecological selection have played a prominent role in the junco radiation.</p>
Data from: Selection on multiple sexual signals in two Central- and Eastern-European populations of the barn swallow
Variation in intensity and targets of sexual selection on multiple traits has been suggested to play a major role in promoting phenotypic differentiation between populations, although the divergence in selection may depend on year, local conditions or age. In this study, we quantified sexual selection for two putative sexual signals across two Central- and East-European barn swallow (Hirundo rustica rustica) populations from Czech Republic and Romania over multiple years. We then related these differences in selection to variation in sexual characters among barn swallow populations. Our results show that tail length and ventral colouration vary between populations, sexes and age classes (first-time breeders vs. experienced birds). We found that selection on tail length was stronger in first-time breeders than in experienced birds and in males than in females in the Romanian population, while these differences between age groups and sexes were weak in Czech birds. We suggest that the populational difference in selection on tail length might be related to the differences in breeding conditions. Our results show that ventral colouration is darker (i.e. has lower brightness) in the Romanian than in the Czech population, and in experienced birds and males compared with first-time breeders and females, respectively. The sexual difference in ventral colouration may suggest sexual selection on this trait, which is supported by the significant directional selection of ventral colouration in first-time breeding males on laying date. However, after controlling for the confounding effect of wing length and tarsus length, the partial directional selection gradient on this trait turned non-significant, suggesting that the advantage of dark ventral colouration in early breeding birds is determined by the correlated traits of body size. These findings show that ventral colouration may be advantageous over the breeding season, but the underlying mechanism of this relationship is not clarified.
Data from: Male rock lizards may compensate reproductive costs of an immune challenge affecting sexual signals
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Sexual signals can be evolutionarily stable if they are condition dependent or costly to the signaler. One of these costs may be the trade-off between maintaining the immune system and the elaboration of ornaments. Experimental immune challenges in captivity show a reduction in the expression of sexual signals, but it is not clear whether these detrimental effects are important in nature and, more importantly, whether they have reproductive consequences. We designed a field experiment to challenge the immune system of wild male Carpetan rock lizards, Iberolacerta cyreni, with a bacterial antigen (LPS). The immune challenge decreased relative reflectance of UV structural and melanin-dependent sexual coloration in the throat and the lateral ocelli, whereas the carotenoid-dependent dorsal green coloration was not affected. Immune activation also decreased proportions of ergosterol and cholesta-5,7-dien-3-ol in femoral secretions. These results support a trade-off between the immune system and both visual and chemical sexual ornaments. Moreover, reproductive success of males, estimated with DNA microsatellites, depended on the expression of some color and chemical traits. However, the immune challenge did not cause overall differences in reproductive success, although it increased with body size/age in control but not in challenged males. This suggests the use of alternative reproductive strategies (e.g. forced matings) in challenged males, particularly in smaller ones. These males might consider that their survival probabilities are low and increase reproductive effort as a form of terminal investment in spite of their "low-quality" sexual signals and potential survival costs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data from: Limits to environmental masking of genetic quality in sexual signals
There is considerable debate over the value of male sexual ornaments as signals of genetic quality. Studies alternately report that environmental variation enhances or diminishes the genetic signal, or leads to crossover where genotypes perform well in one environment but poorly in another. A unified understanding is lacking. We conduct a novel experimental test examining the dual effects of distinct categories of genetic (inbred versus crossed parental lines) and environmental quality (low, through high to extreme larval food stress) on a condition-dependent male ornament. We find that differences in genetic quality signalled by the ornament (male eyespan in Diasemopsis meigenii stalk-eyed flies) become visible and are amplified under high stress but are overwhelmed in extreme stress environments. Variance among independent genetic lines increases with environmental stress in both genetic quality classes, but at a slower rate in high quality outcrossed flies. Individual genetic lines generally maintain their ranks across environments, except among high quality lines under low environmental stress, where low genetic variance among lines precludes differentiation between ranks. Our results provide a conceptual advance, demonstrating a unified pattern for how genetic and environmental quality interact. They show when environmental conditions lead to the amplification of differences in signals of genetic quality and thereby enhance the potential indirect genetic benefits gained by female mate choice.
Data from: Adaptive changes in sexual signaling in response to urbanization
Urbanization can cause species to adjust their sexual displays, as the effectiveness of mating signals is impacted by environmental conditions. Despite many examples showing that mating signals in urban conditions differ from those in rural conditions, we do not know whether these differences provide a combined reproductive and survival benefit to the urban phenotype. Here we show that male túngara frogs have increased the conspicuousness of their calls, which is under strong sexual and natural selection by signal receivers, as an adaptive response to city life. The urban phenotype consequently attracts more females than the forest phenotype, while avoiding the costs imposed by eavesdropping bats and midges, which we show are rare in urban areas. Finally, we show in a translocation experiment that urban frogs can reduce risk of predation and parasitism when moved to the forest, but that forest frogs do not increase their sexual attractiveness when moved to the city. Our findings thus reveal that urbanization can rapidly drive adaptive signal change via changes in both natural and sexual selection pressures.
Data from: Multivariate phenotypic selection on a complex sexual signal
Animal signals are complex, comprising multiple components that receivers may use to inform their decisions. Components may carry information of differing value to receivers, and selection on one component could modulate or reverse selection on another, necessitating a multivariate approach to estimating selection gradients. However, surprisingly few empirical studies have estimated the strength of phenotypic selection on complex signals with appropriate design and adequate power to detect non-linear selection. We used phonotaxis assays to measure sexual selection on the advertisement signal of Cope's gray tree frog, Hyla chrysoscelis. Female preferences were assessed for five signal components using single-stimulus and two-stimulus behavioral assays. Linear, quadratic, and correlational selection gradients were estimated from the single-stimulus data. Significant directional selection is acting on call duration, call rate, pulse rate, and relative amplitude; stabilizing selection is acting on call duration and call rate. Under the two-stimulus paradigm, conclusions were qualitatively different, revealing non-linear selection on all components except call duration. For individual subjects, the outcomes of single-stimulus and two-stimulus trials were frequently discordant, suggesting that the choice of testing paradigm may affect conclusions drawn from experiments.
Female mate preferences do not predict male sexual signals across populations
<p>New species can arise when female preferences and male sexual signals diverge across populations and thereby reduce mating between populations. Under this hypothesized mechanism for speciation, mate preferences and male signals should be correlated, but divergent, across populations. We evaluated this prediction using spadefoot toads (Spea multiplicata). We measured a sexually-selected male signal (call rate) for which female preferences are known to vary across populations in response to hybridization risk. Contrary to expectation, we found no correlation between male call rate and female preferences across populations. We discuss possible mechanisms of this pattern, including the effect of gene flow from heterospecifics on male call rate. Our results suggest that, even when populations vary in mating traits, the independent evolution of female preferences and male sexual signals might impede reproductive isolation between populations. </p>
Data from: Axes of multivariate sexual signal divergence among incipient species: concordance with selection, genetic variation, and phenotypic plasticity
<p>Sexual signaling traits are often observed to diverge rapidly among populations, thereby playing a potentially key early role in the evolution of reproductive isolation. While often assumed to reflect divergent sexual selection among populations, patterns of sexual trait diversification might sometimes be biased along axes of standing additive genetic variation and covariation among trait components. Additionally, theory predicts that environmentally-induced phenotypic variation might facilitate rapid trait evolution, suggesting that patterns of divergence between populations should mirror phenotypic plasticity within populations. Here we evaluate the concordance between observed axes of multivariate sexual trait divergence and predicted divergence based on (1) interpopulation variation in sexual selection, (2) additive genetic variances, and (3) temperature-related phenotypic plasticity in male courtship song among geographically isolated populations of the Hawaiian swordtail cricket, Laupala cerasina, which exhibit sexual isolation due sexual signaling traits. The major axis of multivariate divergence, dmax, accounted for 76% of variation among population male song trait means, and was moderately correlated with interpopulation differences in directional sexual selection based on female preferences. However, the majority of additive genetic variance was largely oriented away from the direction of divergence, suggesting that standing genetic variation may not play a dominant role in the patterning of signal divergence. In contrast, the axis of phenotypic plasticity strongly mirrored patterns of interpopulation phenotypic divergence, which is consistent with a role for temperature-related plasticity in facilitating instead of inhibiting male song evolution and sexual isolation in these incipient species. We propose potential mechanisms by which sexual selection might interact with phenotypic plasticity to facilitate the rapid acoustic diversification observed in this species and clade.</p>
Eavesdropping micropredators as dynamic limiters of sexual signal elaboration and intrasexual competition
<p>To thoroughly understand the drivers of dynamic signal elaboration requires assessing the direct and indirect effects of naturally interacting factors. Here, we use structural equation modeling (SEM) to test multivariate data from <i>in situ</i> observations of sexual signal production against a model of causal processes hypothesized to drive signal elaboration. We assess direct and indirect effects, and relative impacts, of male-male competition and attacks by eavesdropping frog-biting midges (Diptera: Corethrellidae) on call elaboration of male túngara frogs (<i>Engystomops pustulosus</i>). We find that the intensity of attacks by these micropredator flies drives the extent to which frogs elaborate their calls, likely due to a temporal trade-off between signaling and anti-micropredator defense. Micropredator attacks appear to dynamically limit a male's call rate and complexity and consequently dampen the effects of intrasexual competition. In accounting for naturally interacting drivers of signal elaboration, this study presents a counterpoint to the mechanisms traditionally thought to drive sexual selection in this system. Moreover, the results shed light on the relatively unexamined and potentially influential role of eavesdropping micropredators in the evolution of sexual communication systems.</p>
Varied female and male courtship behavior facilitated the evolution of a novel sexual signal
<p><span><span>Sexual selection can contribute to speciation when signals and preferences expressed during mate choice are coupled within groups, but come to differ across groups (generating assortative mating). When new sexual signals evolve, it is important to investigate their roles in both mate location and courtship contexts, as both signaling functions are critical in mate choice. In previous work, researchers identified two new male morphs (silent and purring) in Hawaiian populations of the Pacific field cricket, </span><span>Teleogryllus oceanicus.</span><span> These morphs likely evolved because they protect males from an acoustically orienting parasitoid, yet still obtain some reproductive success. But, it remains unknown how purring morphs function in close courtship encounters. We compared the relative success of the very recently evolved purring morph to that of the ancestral and silent morphs during courtship encounters. Purring males produce a novel courtship song and were not as successful in courtship as the ancestral type, but were mounted by females as often and as quickly as the obligately silent morph that arose and spread ~20 years ago. Purring males initiate courtship more quickly than other morphs, and females from populations where purring is common exhibit higher overall mounting rates. Thus, differences in the behavior of purring males and of females from populations where purring is common may have facilitated the origin of this novel sexual signal. We found no assortative mating between males of a given morph and females from their own population, and so we hypothesize that multiple male types will be maintained within the species because each achieves fitness in different ways. </span></span></p>
Data from: Sexual signal loss in field crickets maintained despite strong sexual selection favoring singing males
Evolutionary biologists commonly seek explanations for how selection drives the emergence of novel traits. While trait loss is also predicted to occur frequently, few contemporary examples exist. In Hawaii, the Pacific field cricket (Teleogryllus oceanicus) is undergoing adaptive sexual signal loss due to natural selection imposed by eavesdropping parasitoids. Mutant male crickets ("flatwings") cannot sing. We measured the intensity of sexual selection on wing phenotype in a wild population. First, we surveyed the relative abundance of flatwings and "normal-wings" (non-mutants) on Oahu. Then, we bred wild-mated females' offspring to determine both female genotype with respect to the flatwing mutation and the proportion of flatwing males that sired their offspring. We found evidence of strong sexual selection favoring the production of song: females were predominantly homozygous normal-wing; their offspring were sired disproportionately by singing males; and at the population level, flatwing males became less common following a single sexual selection event. We report a selection coefficient describing the total (pre- and postcopulatory) sexual selection favoring normal-wing males in nature. Given the maintenance of the flatwing phenotype in Hawaii in recent years, this substantial sexual selection additionally suggests an approximate strength of opposing natural selection that favors silent males.
Data from: Colourful network: Pair-bonding temporal dynamics involve sexual signals and impact reproduction
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Evolutionary drivers of sexual signal variation in Amazon slender anoles
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Sexual dichromatism in the fur of a bat: An exploration of color differences and potential signaling functions
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Data from: Selection on multiple sexual signals in two Central- and Eastern-European populations of the barn swallow
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