Identity signaling, identity reception and the evolution of social recognition in a Neotropical frog

Tumulty, James P.; Lange, Zachary K; Bee, Mark A.

doi:10.1101/2021.04.25.441331

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The adaptive value of recognition and discrimination is often conceptualized as the shifting of optimal thresholds for "accepting" or "rejecting" individuals [60][61][62] . There are many examples of plastic shifts in acceptance thresholds showing that animals often adjust decision rules in an adaptive way e.g., [63][64][65][66] , but less work has documented evolutionary changes in the decision rules that determine acceptance thresholds 67 . The results of our behavioral experiments suggest that southern P. fuscatus foundresses universally reject or accept conspecific foundresses depending on the context.…”

Section: Evolution Of Recognition Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition

Tumulty,

Miller,

Van Belleghem

et al. 2023

Current Biology

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Section: Evolution Of Recognition Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition

Tumulty,

Miller,

Van Belleghem

et al. 2023

Current Biology

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Section: Evolution Of Recognition Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition

Tumulty

Miller

Belleghem

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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The ability to recognize and discriminate among others is a frequent assumption of models of the evolution of cooperative behavior. At the same time, cooperative behavior has been proposed as a selective agent favoring the evolution of individual recognition abilities. While theory predicts that recognition and cooperation may co-evolve, data linking recognition abilities and cooperative behavior with fitness or evidence of selection are elusive. Here, we provide evidence of a fitness link between individual recognition and cooperation in the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus. Nest founding females in northern populations frequently form cooperative multiple foundress nests and possess highly variable facial patterns that mediate individual recognition. We describe a dearth of cooperative nesting, low phenotypic diversity, and a lack of individual recognition in southern populations. In a common garden experiment, northern co-foundress associations successfully reared offspring while all cooperative southern groups failed to rear any offspring, suggesting a fitness link between individual recognition and successful cooperation. Consistent with a selective link between individual recognition and cooperation, we find that rates of cooperative co-nesting correlate with identity-signaling color pattern diversity across the species' range. Moreover, genomic evidence of recent positive selection on cognition loci likely to mediate individual recognition is substantially stronger in northern compared to southern P. fuscatus populations. Collectively, these data suggest that individual recognition and cooperative nesting behavior have co-evolved in P. fuscatus because recognition helps mediate conflict among co-nesting foundresses. This work provides evidence of a specific cognitive phenotype under selection because of social interactions, supporting the idea that social behavior can be a key driver of cognitive evolution.

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Predicting and measuring decision rules for social recognition in a Neotropical frog

Tumulty

Fouilloux

Vallejos

et al. 2021

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Many animals use signals, such as vocalizations, to recognize familiar individuals. However, animals risk making recognition mistakes because the signal properties of different individuals often overlap due to within-individual variation in signal production. To understand the relationship between signal variation and decision rules for social recognition, we studied male golden rocket frogs, which recognize the calls of territory neighbors and respond less aggressively to a neighbor's calls than to the calls of strangers. We quantified patterns of individual variation in acoustic properties of calls and predicted optimal discrimination thresholds using a signal detection theory model of receiver utility that incorporated signal variation, the payoffs of correct and incorrect decisions, and the rates of encounters with neighbors and strangers. We then experimentally determined thresholds for discriminating between neighbors and strangers using a habituation-discrimination experiment with territorial males in the field. Males required a threshold difference between 9% and 12% to discriminate between calls differing in temporal properties; this threshold matched those predicted by a signal detection theory model under ecologically realistic assumptions of infrequent encounters with strangers and relatively costly missed detections of strangers. We demonstrate empirically that receivers group continuous variation in vocalizations into discrete social categories and show that signal detection theory can be applied to investigate evolved decision rules.

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Identity signaling, identity reception and the evolution of social recognition in a Neotropical frog

Cited by 3 publications

References 51 publications

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition

Predicting and measuring decision rules for social recognition in a Neotropical frog

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