Why does costly signalling evolve? Challenges with testing the handicap hypothesis

Számadó, Szabolcs; Penn, Dustin J.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.06.005

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Therefore, in our study population the chestnut flank coloration is not a trait costly to produce whose expression is limited to individuals of high genotypic quality as predicted by the handicap principle (Zahavi 1975), but is more intensely produced by individuals in poor condition probably as an adaptive detoxifying strategy. This is in accordance with recent proposals of alternatives to the handicap principle that are based on the knowledge of the physiological mechanisms regulating trait expression (Számadó andPenn 2015, Galván andpresence of Alonso-Alvarez 2017). This is also in accordance with the suggestion that the in chestnut flank coloration adult nuthatches is a developmental consequence of natural selection operating in nestlings, while sexual dichromatism in the chestnut flank coloration of nestling nuthatches is a developmental consequence of sexual selection operating in adults (Galván 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Females mate with males with diminished pheomelanin‐based coloration in the Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea

Galván

Rodríguez‐Martínez

2018

Journal of Avian Biology

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Sexual selection can drive the evolution of phenotypic traits because of female preferences for exaggerated trait expression in males. Sexual selection can also lead to the evolutionary loss of traits, a process to which female preferences for diminished male trait expression are hypothesized to contribute. However, empirical evidence of female preferences for diminished male traits is virtually lacking. Eurasian nuthatches Sitta europaea provide an opportunity to test this possibility, as a chestnut flank patch produced by the pigment pheomelanin is present since the first plumage of these birds and its color is more intense in nestlings in poor condition in our study population. It has been proposed that developing birds in poor condition may increase their production of pheomelanin as a detoxifying strategy. Female nuthatches may thus prefer mating with males showing flank feathers of diminished color, as this could indicate that males experienced good conditions early in development, which can positively affect the fitness of future generations. Here we show results according with this prediction in a wild population of Eurasian nuthatches, as adult males with lighter chestnut feathers paired earlier in the season, while chestnut coloration had no effect on female mating success. Chestnut color expression was not affected by the body condition of birds, suggesting that females obtain information on the body condition in early life of their potential mates and not on their current body condition. This constitutes one of the few examples of females mating with males showing diminished traits and provides the only explanation so far by which this process can occur.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Females mate with males with diminished pheomelanin‐based coloration in the Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea

Galván

Rodríguez‐Martínez

2018

Journal of Avian Biology

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“…having a cost function per se is not a requirement of honest signaling. The Handicap Principle is misleading both in its theoretical and empirical predictions, the sooner it is replaced with a Darwinian theory of honest signaling based on signaling trade-offs (Getty, 2006;Penn & Számadó, in press) the better.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…if both signalers send the same signal (pooling equilibrium). According to theoretical speculations (Spence 1973, Getty, 2005Számadó, 2010;Számadó & Penn, ;Számadó et al,) the receiver can distinguish the type of signalers if the costs of the signals correlate negatively with the productivity of the signalers.…”

Section: Signaling Game and Honest Equilibriummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It claims that signals are honest because they are costly to produce (Zahavi, 1975;Grafen, 1990;Zahavi & Zahavi, 1997). While the Handicap Principle remains ill-supported (yet still dominant) in biology (John, 1975;Borgia, 1979;Kotaiho, 2011;Getty, 2006;Számadó, 2011;Groose, 2011;Számadó & Penn, 2015, 2018Penn & Számadó, 2019) many found applications of it in explaining human behaviour from Potlach to big-game and turtle hunting (). However, game theoretical models predict that it is not the equilibrium cost that maintains the honesty of communication but the ratio of marginal costs to marginal benefits (Spence, 1973;Riley, 1979;Hurd, 1995;Számadó, 1999;Lachmann et al, 2001;Bergstrom et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Condition-dependent trade-offs maintain honest signaling: A laboratory experiment

Számadó

Samu

Takács

2019

Preprint

Self Cite

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How and why animals and humans signal reliably is a key issue in biology and social sciences. For many years the dominant paradigm in biology was the Handicap Principle. It claims a causal relationship between honesty and signal cost and thus predicts that honest signals have to be costly to produce. However, contrary to the Handicap Principle, game theoretical models predict that honest signaling is maintained by condition dependent signaling trade-offs and honest signals need not be costly at the equilibrium. Due to the difficulties of manipulating signal cost and signal trade-offs there is surprisingly little evidence to test these predictions either from biology or from social sciences. Here we conduct a human laboratory experiment with a two-factorial design to test the role of equilibrium signal cost vs. signalling trade-offs in the maintenance of honest communication.We have found that the trade-off condition has much higher influence on the reliability of communication than the equilibrium cost condition. The highest level of honesty was observed in the condition dependent trade-off condition as predicted by recent models.Negative production cost, i.e. fix benefit -contrary to the prediction of the Handicap Principlepromoted even higher level of honesty than the other type of costs under this condition.

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“…Once an individual has correctly targeted prospective mates within the population of individuals with species‐typical coadapted mt and N‐mt genes, it will still be faced with variation in the quality of prospective mates (Figure ). There is an expansive literature on the aspects of individual quality that might be assessed among males within a population, including resources, N genes that have higher fitness, and N genes that are compatible with the choosing individual's N genes . Here I propose that assessment of mitochondrial function will be a key part of assessment of individuals within a population because efficiency of respiratory function is such a key component of individual.…”

Section: Choosing Individuals Should Assess Variation In Mitochondriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitonuclear Mate Choice: A Missing Component of Sexual Selection Theory?

Hill

2018

BioEssays

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The fitness of a eukaryote hinges on the coordinated function of the products of its nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in achieving oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). I propose that sexual selection plays a key role in the maintenance of mitonuclear coadaptation across generations because it enables pre-zygotic sorting for coadapted mitonuclear genotypes. At each new generation, sexual reproduction creates new combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genes, and the potential arises for mitonuclear incompatibilities and reduced fitness. In reviewing the literature, I hypothesize that individuals engaged in mate choice select partners with correct species-typical mitochondrial and nuclear genotypes as well as individuals with highly functional cellular respiration. The implication is that mate choice for compatible nuclear and mitochondrial genes can play a significant role in generating the patterns of ornamentation and preferences observed in animals. A number of testable predictions emerge from this mitonuclear compatibility hypothesis of sexual selection.

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Why does costly signalling evolve? Challenges with testing the handicap hypothesis

Cited by 23 publications

References 17 publications

Females mate with males with diminished pheomelanin‐based coloration in the Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea

Females mate with males with diminished pheomelanin‐based coloration in the Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea

Condition-dependent trade-offs maintain honest signaling: A laboratory experiment

Mitonuclear Mate Choice: A Missing Component of Sexual Selection Theory?

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