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57 results for “sexual ornament”
X chromosome drive is constrained by sexual selection and influences ornament evolution
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Data from: Sex-specific patterns of aging on sexual ornaments and gametes
Sex differences in age-dependent mortality and reproductive success are predicted to drive the evolution of sexually dimorphic patterns of reproductive investment over life. However, this prediction has not been fully explored because it is difficult to measure primary and secondary sexual traits over the life spans of males and females. Here we studied a population of fowl, Gallus gallus, to gain longitudinal data on a sexual ornament (the comb), quantity of gametes produced, and gamete quality (sperm velocity and egg mass) of males and females. Our results reveal pronounced differences between the sexes in age-specific patterns of reproductive investment. In males, comb size decreased linearly with age, high sperm quality early in life was associated with reduced sperm quality late in life, and high sperm production was related to early death. In contrast, female comb size and egg mass were maximized at intermediate ages, and fecundity was independent of life span. Finally, the way traits were related in males did not change over life, whereas in females the association between fecundity and comb size changed from positive to negative over the lifetime of a female, indicating that aging may lead to trade-offs in investment between traits in females. These results show that males and females differ in reproductive investment with age, in terms of both the expression of individual traits and their phenotypic covariance.
Data from: MHC variation is related to a sexually selected ornament, survival and parasite resistance in common yellowthroats
Hamilton and Zuk (1982) proposed that females choose mates based on ornaments whose expression is dependent on their genetically based resistance to parasites. The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) plays an important role in pathogen recognition and is a good candidate for testing the relationships between immune genes and both ornament expression and parasite resistance. We tested the hypothesis that female common yellowthroats prefer to mate with more ornamented males, because it is a signal of their MHC-based resistance to parasites and likelihood of survival. In this species, females prefer males that have larger black facial masks as extra-pair mates. Using pyrosequencing, we found that mask size was positively related to the number of different MHC class II alleles, as predicted if greater variation at the MHC allows for the recognition of a greater variety of pathogens. Furthermore, males with more MHC class II alleles had greater apparent survival, and resistance to malaria infection was associated with the presence of a particular MHC class II allele. Thus, extra-pair mating may provide female warblers with immunity genes that are related to parasite resistance, survival and the expression of a male ornament, consistent with good genes models of sexual selection.
Data from: Reduced sexual dichromatism, mutual ornamentation, and individual quality in the monogamous Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita
Although variation in plumage coloration is known to occur both between and within sexes, its study remains limited to a few bird families. The Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita, is a socially monogamous tropical columbid bird species, characterized by an overall cinnamon-brownish plumage and structural colorations on the head and neck. The species has been described as sexually dichromatic for plumage, although color differences between males and females are not obvious in the field. We investigated variation in the presumably melanin-based color of the crown, mantle, breast, and belly, in the iridescent dark-blue streaks on the head, and in the symmetric iridescent patches on the neck, over the whole spectrum visible to birds. Further, unlike most previous studies, we assessed covariation between plumage color and phenotypic traits in both males and females in relation to the putative signaling function of ornaments. Zenaida doves appeared to be slightly sexually dichromatic for the hue of pigment-based colored areas, with males being on average more reddish than females. However, this difference was not discernible when considering the avian visual system. Conversely, although the reflectance spectra of iridescent plumage did not significantly differ between sexes in brightness, chroma or spectral position of the peaks, color discrimination analyses showed that individuals should be able to perceive between- or within-sex differences in the color of the iridescent patch. In addition, several color parameters of brown and iridescent feathers were significantly related to territorial status, body condition, wing chord, and, albeit weakly, to individual multilocus heterozygosity. Overall, our results thus suggest that plumage color might be a reliable signal of quality in individuals of both sexes in this species. Further studies are needed to test the potential implication of plumage coloration in mate choice and mating patterns in the Zenaida Dove.
Data for: Telomere length is highly repeatable and shorter in individuals with more elaborate sexual ornamentation in a short-lived passerine
<p>Quantifying an individual's state as fitness proxy has proven challenging, but accumulating evidence suggests that telomere length and attrition may indicate individual somatic state and success at self-maintenance, respectively. Sexual ornamentation is also thought to signal phenotypic quality, but links between telomeres and sexual ornamentation have been little explored. To address this issue, we examined whether telomere length and dynamics are predicted by the expression of a sexually selected ornament, the length of the outermost tail feathers (streamers), using longitudinal data from a population of European barn swallows (Hirundo rustica). In 139 adult individuals, each measured twice, we further assessed associations of telomere length with age, sex, breeding status and survival. Telomere length showed high individual repeatability (R = 0.97) across years while shortening with age in both sexes. Telomere length and dynamics were not significantly associated with survival to the next year, remaining lifespan, or reproduction status (comparing breeding and non-breeding yearlings). Tail streamer length, a sexually selected trait in barn swallows, was negatively associated with telomere length, independent of sex. Thus, telomere length may reflect the costs of carrying an elaborated sexual ornament, although ornament size did not significantly predict telomere shortening. In conclusion, telomere length in adult barn swallows is a highly consistent trait that shows a negative relationship with sexual ornamentation, suggesting a trade-off between sexual ornamentation and telomere length.</p>
The relative effects of pace of life and habitat characteristics on the evolution of sexual ornaments: a comparative assessment
<p><span>Selection may favor greater investment into sexual ornaments when opportunities for future reproduction are limited (e.g., due to high adult mortality). However, a key driver of mortality, predation, typically selects against elaborate sexual ornaments. Here, we examine the evolution of sexual ornaments in a group of killifishes, which have marked contrasts in life-history strategy between species and inhabit environments that differ in their accessibility to aquatic predators. We first assessed if the size of sexual ornaments (unpaired fins) influenced swimming performance and found that larger fins negatively affected swimming performance. Second, we investigated whether the evolution of larger ornamental fins is driven primarily by the pace of life-history (i.e., investment into current vs future reproduction) or habitat type (as a proxy for predation risk). We found that males from species inhabiting ephemeral habitats with lower predation risk had both larger fins and more pronounced sexual dimorphism in fin size, compared to males from more accessible permanent habitats. Our results indicate that enlarged ornamental fins impair locomotion and evolve more frequently in environments that are less accessible to predators, but with no clear association to the pace of life-history. We provide a rare link between the evolution of sexual ornaments, decreases in locomotion, and natural selection on ornaments through vulnerability to predation.</span></p>
Phylogeny and secondary sexual trait evolution in Schizocosa wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) shows evidence for multiple gains and losses of ornamentation and species delimitation uncertainty
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Data for: Telomere length is highly repeatable and shorter in individuals with more elaborate sexual ornamentation in a short-lived passerine
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Delayed color maturation of a sexual ornament in males of a damselfly: crypsis, female mimicry or both?
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The relative effects of pace of life and habitat characteristics on the evolution of sexual ornaments: a comparative assessment
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Data from: Sex-specific patterns of aging on sexual ornaments and gametes
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Data from: Reduced sexual dichromatism, mutual ornamentation, and individual quality in the monogamous Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita
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Data from: MHC variation is related to a sexually selected ornament, survival and parasite resistance in common yellowthroats
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Spectral data for analysis: Full spectra colouration and condition-dependent signalling in a skin-based carotenoid sexual ornament
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Data from: The sexual selection paradigm: have we overlooked other mechanisms in the evolution of male ornaments?
Extravagant male ornaments expressed during reproduction are almost invariably assumed to be sexually selected and evolve through competition for mating opportunities. Yet in species where male reproductive success depends on the defence of offspring, male ornaments could also evolve through social competition for offspring survival. However, in contrast to female ornaments, this possibility has received little attention in males. We show that a male ornament that is traditionally assumed to be sexually selected—the red nuptial coloration of the three-spined stickleback—is under stronger selection for offspring survival than for mating success. Males express most coloration during parenting, when they no longer attract females, and the colour correlates with nest retention and hatching success but not with attractiveness to females. This contradicts earlier assumptions and suggests that social selection for offspring survival rather than for sexual selection for mating success is the main mechanism maintaining the ornament in the population. These results suggest that we should consider other forms of social selection beyond sexual selection when seeking to explain the function and evolution of male ornaments. An incorrect assignment of selection pressures could hamper our understanding of evolution.
Data from: Ornament complexity is correlated with sexual selection: (a comment on Raia et al., "Cope's rule and the universal scaling law of ornament complexity")
Raia et al. propose that the evolution of the shape and complexity of animal ornaments (e.g., deer antlers) can be explained by interspecific variation in body size and is not influenced by sexual selection. They claim to show that ornament complexity is related to body size by an 0.25-power law and argue that this finding precludes a role for sexual selection in the evolution of ornament complexity. However, their study does not test alternative hypotheses and mismeasures antler shape allometry by omitting much of the published data. We show that an index of sexual selection (sexual size dimorphism) is positively correlated with size-corrected antler complexity and that the allometric slope of complexity is substantially greater than 0.25, contra Raia et al. We conclude that sexual selection and physical constraints both affect the evolution of antler shape.
Data from: Age, condition and dominance-related sexual ornament size before and during the breeding season in the black grouse Lyrurus tetrix
Male ornaments function as honest cues of male quality in many species and are subject to intra- and intersexual selection. These ornaments are generally studied during peak expression, however their size outside the breeding season may determine ultimate ornament size and costliness, and as such reproductive success. We investigated whether male black grouse Lyrurus tetrix eye comb size was related to age, condition and measures of male dominance before and during the breeding season. Total combined eye comb size began to increase ~70 days before the start of the breeding season. Adult males (aged ≥ 2 years old) had consistently larger eye combs than younger males (1 year old) both before and during the breeding season. Heavier and more dominant adult males (attending the lek more frequently and successfully reproducing) had larger eye combs. For younger males, those that were heavier had larger eye combs. Additionally, males that spent more time on the lek showed increased eye comb size as the breeding season approached. Overall we find that ornament size is positively related to dominance and condition before and during the breeding season. Since dominance is accrued through year-round interactions in many species, the ability to maintain larger signals over prolonged periods,
Data from: Sperm is a sexual ornament in rose bitterling
In many taxa, odour cues mediate mating decisions. A key question is what these odours comprise, where they are produced, and what they signal. Using rose bitterling, fish that spawn in the gills of freshwater mussels, we investigated the role of sperm cues on female oviposition decisions using individuals of known MHC genotype. Male bitterling frequently released sperm prior to female oviposition and females responded with an increased probability of oviposition and released a greater number of eggs, particularly if males had a dissimilar MHC genotype. These mating preferences by females were shown to be adaptive, with MHC dissimilarity of males and females correlated positively with embryo survival. These results support a role for indirect benefits to rose bitterling mate choice and we propose that sperm acts as a releaser pheromone in bitterling, functioning as a sexual ornament signalling male quality as a mate.
Negative body size-dependent resource allocation underlies conspicuous sexual ornaments in a territorial damselfly
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Sexual ornaments, signaling individual quality to choosing females or rival males, often show steeper body size scaling compared to non-sexually selected traits. Theory posits such steeper body size scaling is the result of differential resource allocation, reflecting trade-offs between different components of fitness. Yet the process of resource allocation towards body size-dependent sexual ornaments has been rarely understood empirically. Using the Neotropical territorial damselfly <i>Megaloprepus caerulatus</i>, whose males and females carry wax-based, sex-specific white wing bands and white wing tips respectively, we investigated nutrition sensitivity and body size scaling of both traits by manipulating larval food availability and directly quantified both the fat allocated to wing ornaments and the fat reserve from which allocations are made. Both color traits exhibited sensitivity to food availability during larval development and steeper body size scaling compared to control traits. Although the absolute amount of fat invested in developing the color ornaments increased with body size, the proportion of total fat allocated to the ornaments decreased with body size, making exaggerated ornaments less affordable for smaller individuals. Our data demonstrate that knowledge of affordability of exaggeration for resource-based sexual ornament, which requires measuring the resource pool from which ornaments are derived is essential for understanding the maintenance of honesty of sexual signals. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Functional integration of multiple sexual ornaments: signal coherence and sexual selection
<p><span>The sexual ornamentation of animals typically consists of multiple distinct traits. The classical research approach focuses on differences among these traits, but this approach may often be misleading because of correlations among distinct sexual traits of similar origins. There are many published studies on the correlation structures of sexual traits, but the way receivers take into account the components of an integrated, multi-component trait system remains mostly unknown. Here we propose a general analytical framework to assess the possible sexual selection consequences of within-individual coherence in the expression of multiple correlated sexual traits. We then apply this framework to a long-term mutual plumage coloration data set from a wild bird population. The results suggest that the coherence of component plumage color traits is not sexually selected. However, component trait coherence affects sexual selection on integrated plumage color. When assessing across-spectrum plumage reflectance, receivers choosing mates apparently disregard a component trait if it is inconsistent with the overall expression of other components. This indicates that separately examining and manipulating distinct sexual traits may often be misleading. Theoretical and empirical studies should further explore the effects of coherence on the ornament-preference</span><span> co-evolution.</span></p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.