Amplifiers and the origin of animal signals

Bogaardt, Laurens; Johnstone, Rufus A.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.0324

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…Our model also shares some similarities with models of amplifier signals (Hasson, ; Bogaardt & Johnstone, ). Amplifiers are traits that magnify differences in cues of quality, and are typically considered in terms of sexual signalling.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Signalling of information that is neither cryptic nor private

Wild

West

2017

J of Evolutionary Biology

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It is commonly assumed that in order for animal signals to be advantageous, the information being signalled could not have been obtained otherwise, and is therefore 'cryptic' or 'private'. Here, we suggest a scenario in which individuals can gain an advantage by signalling 'public' information that is neither cryptic nor private. In that scenario, signalling increases the efficiency with which that 'public' information is transmitted. We formalize our idea with a game in which offspring can signal their condition to their parents. Specifically, we consider a resource-strapped parent who can only invest in one of its two offspring, and we allow offspring the chance to influence parental investment through a signal. A parent in the game seeks to invest in the higher-quality offspring, which it could identify either through a publicly available cue, such as body size, or by relying on a signal provided by the offspring. We find that if the signal can convey information about offspring quality more efficiently than cues, then signalling of condition between offspring and parents can be favoured by selection, even though parents could potentially have acquired the same information from the cue. Our results suggest that the biological function of signals may be broader than currently considered, and provide a scenario where low cost signalling can be favoured. More generally, efficiency benefits could explain signalling across a range of biological and economic scenarios.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Signalling of information that is neither cryptic nor private

Wild

West

2017

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…In this sense, the forelimb-crouch posture may be interpreted as an amplifier signal of sexual swelling, the combination of posture and sexual swelling resulting in a unimodal (visual) composite signal 24 . Although several physical or behavioural amplifiers have been shown to enhance visual salience, and the Amplifier Hypothesis proposed by Oren Hasson in 1989 3 has been advocated in theoretical and computational models 25 – 27 , empirical studies are still rare, limited to a few taxa and to the context of courtship and reproduction 28 – 30 . Therefore, the Amplifier Hypothesis is still debated 27 , but models predict that any cost-limited amplifier that enhances the perception of a relevant signal should be under positive selection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging postures are a potential communicative signal in female bonobos

Demuru¹,

Pellegrino²,

Dediu³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Body postures are essential in animal behavioural repertoires and their communicative role has been assessed in a wide array of taxa and contexts. Some body postures function as amplifiers, a class of signals that increase the detection likelihood of other signals. While foraging on the ground, bonobos (Pan paniscus) can adopt different crouching postures exposing more or less of their genital area. To our knowledge, their potential functional role in the sociosexual life of bonobos has not been assessed yet. Here we show, by analysing more than 2,400 foraging events in 21 captive bonobos, that mature females adopt a rear-exposing posture (forelimb-crouch) and do so significantly more often when their anogenital region is swollen than during the non-swollen phase. In contrast, mature males almost completely avoid this posture. Moreover, this strong difference results from a diverging ontogeny between males and females since immature males and females adopt the forelimb-crouch at similar frequencies. Our findings suggest that the forelimb-crouch posture may play a communicative role of amplification by enhancing the visibility of female sexual swellings, a conspicuous signal that is very attractive for both males and females. Given the high social relevance of this sexual signal, our study emphasizes that postural signalling in primates probably deserves more attention, even outside of reproductive contexts.

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“…3A). Similarly, if there are behavioral displays that amplify the impact (

ψ_{{boldZZ}^{'}}

) of an ornament (Bogaardt and Johnstone 2016), for instance a dancing display, this will further benefit males that have long tails and perform the dancing display, further favoring the evolution of even longer tails. Our model thus links previously separated ideas in sexual selection and highlights the evolution of sequences of traits due to feedbacks.…”

Section: Feedbacks In Social Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways to social evolution and their evolutionary feedbacks

2020

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In the context of social evolution, the ecological drivers of selection are the phenotypes of other individuals. The social environment can thus evolve, potentially changing the adaptive value for different social strategies. Different branches of evolutionary biology have traditionally focused on different aspects of these feedbacks. Here, we synthesize behavioral ecology theory concerning evolutionarily stable strategies when fitness is frequency dependent with quantitative genetic models providing statistical descriptions of evolutionary responses to social selection. Using path analyses, we review how social interactions influence the strength of selection and how social responsiveness, social impact, and non‐random social assortment affect responses to social selection. We then detail how the frequency‐dependent nature of social interactions fits into this framework and how it imposes selection on traits mediating social responsiveness, social impact, and social assortment, further affecting evolutionary dynamics. Throughout, we discuss the parameters in quantitative genetics models of social evolution from a behavioral ecology perspective and identify their statistical counterparts in empirical studies. This integration of behavioral ecology and quantitative genetic perspectives should lead to greater clarity in the generation of hypotheses and more focused empirical research regarding evolutionary pathways and feedbacks inherent in specific social interactions.

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Amplifiers and the origin of animal signals

Cited by 10 publications

References 25 publications

Signalling of information that is neither cryptic nor private

Signalling of information that is neither cryptic nor private

Foraging postures are a potential communicative signal in female bonobos

Pathways to social evolution and their evolutionary feedbacks

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