Can Sensory Drive Explain the Evolution of Visual Signal Diversity in Terrestrial Species? A Test with <i>Anolis</i> Lizards

Fleishman, Leo J.; Perez-Martinez, Christian A.; Leal, Manuel

doi:10.1086/720267

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, if the sexual signal changes, as observed in some fish that change sex during development, individuals should move to another displaying site. Previous studies have shown that animals choose their display site in relation to their own sexual signals ( 45, 46 ). Those studies, however, focused on coloration, showing that animals gain attractiveness by maximising the contrast with the background and the ambient light.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual biases, camouflage patterns, and the origin of sexual signals

Héjja-Brichard,

Raymond,

Cuthill

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Natural and sexual selection can be in conflict in driving the evolution of sexual ornamentation. Sexual selection favours detectability to potential mates, whereas natural selection penalises detectability to avoid predators. Focusing on signal efficiency rather than detectability, however, suggests that natural and sexual selection need not be antagonistic. Considerable evidence demonstrates that people prefer images that match the statistics of natural scenes, likely because they are efficiently processed by the brain. This “processing bias” suggests that background-matching camouflage can be favoured by natural and sexual selection. We conducted an online experiment and showed for the first time human preference for camouflaged stimuli. Because the underlying visual mechanisms are shared across vertebrates, our results suggest that camouflage patterns could serve as evolutionary precursors of sexual signals.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual biases, camouflage patterns, and the origin of sexual signals

Héjja-Brichard,

Raymond,

Cuthill

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…courtship) and indirect (e.g. mediation of agonistic interactions among competing males) fitness effects, the context of communication between the signaller and the receiver may also play a major role [33]. In anoles, it is likely that dewlap size is a proxy for overall body size (as the two are highly correlated; table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signal size allometry inAnolislizard dewlaps

Stroud,

Petherick,

Krasnoff

et al. 2023

Biol. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Positive allometry of signalling traits has often been taken as evidence for sexual selection. However, few studies have explored interspecific differences in allometric scaling relationships among closely related species that vary in their degree of ecological similarity. Anolis lizards possess an elaborate retractable throat fan called a dewlap that is used for visual communication and differs greatly in size and colour among species. We observed that Anolis dewlaps demonstrate positive allometry: relative dewlap size increases with body size. We also observed that coexisting species are divergent in signal size allometries, while convergent species—similar in other aspects of ecology, morphology and behaviour—typically share similar dewlap allometric scaling relationships. These patterns suggest that dewlap scaling relationships may follow the same pattern as other traits in the anole radiation, where ecologically different sympatric species have evolved a suite of divergent traits.

show abstract

“…Although closed and open habitat distinction did not clearly explain observed differences in our study, habitat may still contribute to explaining why male lizards from some populations had higher rates of visual displays and overall behavior than others. Closed, forested, habitats pose a special challenge to visual signalers, and are associated with the evolution of elaborate ornaments (Ord et al, 2015) and colors (Fleishman et al, 2022; Mitchem et al, 2018) that enhance conspicuousness. In territorial animals, habitat topography can also directly impact activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population differences in multimodal lizard communication are not well explained by habitat or history

Romero‐Diaz,

Wetherell,

Ury

et al. 2023

Ethology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animals evolve in complex selective regimes, where a suite of different factors can shape signal use. We might predict that more closely related species will exhibit more similar behavior than those more distantly related; however, sometimes signals are shaped more profoundly by the environment or other forces. Lizards in the genus Sceloporus communicate with conspecifics with multimodal signals that combine species‐typical push‐up and headbob displays and chemical signals in the form of femoral gland secretions. Here, we examine behavioral activity and signal use across three closely related populations of the Sceloporus undulatus species complex from diverse habitats across the United States, to test the relative roles of habitat and phylogeography in shaping communicative behavior. We filmed undisturbed levels of activity for free‐ranging males of S. consobrinus, syn. S. u. erythrocheilus, in Colorado, S. undulatus hyacinthinus in Indiana and S. u. undulatus in Georgia, and scored frequency and rates of behavior important for communication. We found that populations differed in their use of communicative signals in a way that deviates from expectations based solely on phylogeographic proximity or habitat, suggesting that plasticity or adaptation to conditions that vary among populations may be especially important. Specifically, canonical discriminant analyses found the largest differences in movement patterns. Sceloporus u. hyacinthinus was the most behaviorally different out of the three: males in this population had lower movement rates and particularly low levels of chemosensory behavior while male S. consobrinus and S. u. undulatus showed similar rates of chemosensory acts and headbob/push‐up displays. Phenotypic and environmental variation among closely related populations, in combination with phylogeographic knowledge can help us untangle the processes responsible for the origin and maintenance of organismal diversity in communicative behavior.

show abstract

Can Sensory Drive Explain the Evolution of Visual Signal Diversity in Terrestrial Species? A Test with Anolis Lizards

Cited by 8 publications

References 70 publications

Perceptual biases, camouflage patterns, and the origin of sexual signals

Perceptual biases, camouflage patterns, and the origin of sexual signals

Signal size allometry inAnolislizard dewlaps

Population differences in multimodal lizard communication are not well explained by habitat or history

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About