Female song occurs in songbirds with more elaborate female coloration and reduced sexual dichromatism

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dc.citation.volume4
dc.contributor.authorWebb W
dc.contributor.authorBrunton DH
dc.contributor.authorAguirre JDAVID
dc.contributor.authorThomas D
dc.contributor.authorValcu M
dc.contributor.authorDale J
dc.contributor.editorSchausberger, P
dc.date.available2016-03-15
dc.date.issued2016-03-15
dc.description.abstractElaborate plumages and songs in male birds provide classic evidence for Darwinian sexual selection. However, trait elaboration in birds is not gender-restricted: female song has recently been revealed as a taxonomically-widespread trait within the songbirds (oscine Passerines), prompting increased research into likely functions and social/ecological correlates. Here we use phylogenetically-informed comparative analysis to test for an evolutionary association between female song and plumage color elaboration in songbirds. If there is an evolutionary trade-off between signaling modes, we predict a negative correlation between acoustic and visual elaboration. This trade-off hypothesis has been commonly proposed in males but has mixed empirical support. Alternatively, if song and plumage have similar or overlapping functions and evolve under similar selection pressures, we predict a positive correlation between female song and female plumage elaboration. We use published data on female song for 1023 species of songbirds and a novel approach that allows for the reliable and objective comparison of color elaboration between species and genders. Our results reveal a significant positive correlation between female colorfulness and female song presence. In species where females sing, females (but not males) are on average more colorful—with concomitantly reduced average sexual dichromatism. These results suggest that female plumage and female song likely evolved together under similar selection pressures and that their respective functions are reinforcing. We discuss the potential roles of sexual vs. social selection in driving this relationship, and the implications for future research on female signals.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.format.extent1 - 8 (8)
dc.identifier.citationFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2016, 4 pp. 1 - 8 (8)
dc.identifier.doi10.3389/fevo.2016.00022
dc.identifier.elements-id390434
dc.identifier.harvestedMassey_Dark
dc.identifier.issn2296-701X
dc.publisherFrontiers Media
dc.relation.isPartOfFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution
dc.rights© 2016 Webb, Brunton, Aguirre, Thomas, Valcu and Dale. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms
dc.subjectfemale song, multimodal signaling, oscine, Passeriformes, plumage coloration, trade-off, trait correlation
dc.subject.anzsrc0602 Ecology
dc.subject.anzsrc0603 Evolutionary Biology
dc.titleFemale song occurs in songbirds with more elaborate female coloration and reduced sexual dichromatism
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.notesNot known
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences
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