Compensatory traits can explain the concave cost function of purely sexual traits

Abstract

The cost of ornamentation is often measured experimentally to study the relative importance of sexual and viability selection for ornamentation, but these experiments can lead to a misleading conclusion when compensatory trait is ignored. For example, a classic experiment on the outermost tail feathers in the barn swallow Hirundo rustica explains that the concave (or U‐shaped) aerodynamic performance cost of the outermost tail feathers would be the evolutionary outcome through viability selection for optimal tail length, but this conclusion depends on the assumption that compensatory traits do not cause reduced performance. Using a simple “toy model” experiment, I demonstrated that ornamentation evolved purely though sexual selection can produce a concave cost function under the presence of compensatory traits, which was further reinforced by a simple mathematical model. Therefore, concave cost function (and the low performance of individuals with reduced ornaments) cannot be used to infer the evolutionary force favoring ornamentation, due to a previously overlooked concept, “overcompensation,” which can worsen the whole body performance.