Information-content of morphological and behavioural sexual traits in the Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus)

Cornuau, Jérémie H.; Schmeller, Dirk S.; Pigeault, Romain; Sibeaux, Adélaïde; Tourat, A.; Loyau, Adeline

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2014.09.011

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…We described the phenotypes of both species using several characters that we classified a priori as sexual or non‐sexual, based on the biology of these organisms and the literature. The following characters were considered as sexual characters: (i) morphological ornaments (caudal filament, body and tail crests, hind‐foot webbing, listed in Table 1) as they are only found in males, are displayed during courtship (Halliday, 1977) and affect female choice in both species (Cornuau et al, 2014; Gabor & Halliday, 1997); (ii) the conspicuous yellow‐orange coloration with black spots, found on the belly of both sexes, because it has been reported to be involved in female choice (Secondi et al, 2012; Secondi & Théry, 2014; but see Cornuau et al, 2012) and to influence male mate choice in a related species (Lüdtke & Foerster, 2018). Ventral coloration is probably not an aposematic signal in our species ( contra other Salamandridae, see Brodie, 1977) since there is no published evidence of toxicity and adults are consumed by a large number of predators (Miró et al, 2020; Parry et al, 2015; Rosa et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A lot of convergence, a bit of divergence: Environment and interspecific interactions shape body colour patterns in Lissotriton newts

Solan

Théry

Picard

et al. 2022

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Coexistence with related species poses evolutionary challenges to which populations may react in diverse ways. When exposed to similar environments, sympatric populations of two species may adopt similar phenotypic trait values. However, selection may also favour trait divergence as a way to reduce competition for resources or mates. The characteristics of external body parts, such as coloration and external morphology, are involved to varying degrees in intraspecific signalling as well as in the adaptation to the environment and consequently may be diversely affected by interspecific interactions in sympatry. Here, we studied the effect of sympatry on various colour and morphological traits in males and females of two related newt species Lissotriton helveticus and L. vulgaris. Importantly, we did not only estimate how raw trait differences between species respond to sympatry, but also the marginal responses after controlling for environmental variation. We found that dorsal and caudal coloration converged in sympatry, likely reflecting their role in adaptation to local environments, especially concealment from predators. In contrast, aspects of male and female ventral coloration, which harbours sexual signals in both species, diverged in sympatry. This divergence may reduce opportunities for interspecific sexual interactions and the associated loss of energy, suggesting reproductive character displacement (RCD). Our study emphasizes the contrasting patterns of traits involved in different functions and calls for the need to consider this diversity in evolutionary studies.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A lot of convergence, a bit of divergence: Environment and interspecific interactions shape body colour patterns in Lissotriton newts

Solan

Théry

Picard

et al. 2022

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…These ornaments are only expressed during the reproductive period and their developments are highly correlated (Cornuau et al. ); therefore, we used only filament length in the present study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

It Takes Two to Tango: Relative Influence of Male and Female Identity and Morphology on Complex Courtship Display in a Newt Species

et al. 2014

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Consistency in behaviour is currently receiving a renewed interest. Although courtship display is generally consistent in terms of behavioural sequence and structure, there is also commonly important variation in the intensity of courtship display between and within males of a given species. Indeed, not all males have the same ability to perform courtship display (variation between males), and each male can potentially adjust his courtship effort in response to the environment (variation within a male). Although the study of male courtship display has received considerable attention in recent years, it is still unclear which part of the variation can be explained by male ability or motivation. We investigated this issue on two phases of the complex courtship display of the palmate newt Lissotriton helveticus. Overall, we found that both male and female identities affected courtship behaviour, but the relative influence of each sex depended on the courtship phase. Male identity explained variation in fan and creep‐quiver display, whereas female identity explained variation in creep‐quiver only. Interestingly, we did not find any link between the expression of courtship display and male or female morphological traits. Our study showed consistency of male courtship display in newts and successfully dissects the different sources of variation that can affect behavioural repeatability/consistency of courtship display.

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“…Understanding the physiological mechanisms underlying sensitive periods more generally, and the implications for evolution, is a topic of intense recent interest and an explosion of research (Boyce et al, 2020;Reh et al, 2020;Sanz et al, 2020). While theories of multiple signal evolution have acknowledged the roles of both timing of sensitive periods and type of environmental variable (e.g., parasites vs. nutrition) as contributing to the information conveyed by signal traits (Candolin, 2003;Møller & Pomiankowski, 1993), empirical work on sexually selected traits is usually designed to detect types of influential environmental variables (Cornuau et al, 2014;Hill et al, 2009;Rahman et al, 2013) rather than timing (but see Scheuber et al, 2003aScheuber et al, , 2003b for excellent counterexamples).…”

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confidence: 99%

Sensitive periods during the development and expression of vertebrate sexual signals: A systematic review

McDermott

Safran

2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Sexually selected phenotypes are some of the most notable features of wild animals and have fascinated biologists since Darwin proposed their function in reproductive behavior (Darwin, 1896).A key question in sexual selection research is why certain traits, but not others, become the targets of sexual selection. Several models propose that traits favored by sexual selection are indicative of good genes and health in a given ecological context

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Information-content of morphological and behavioural sexual traits in the Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus)

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

A lot of convergence, a bit of divergence: Environment and interspecific interactions shape body colour patterns in Lissotriton newts

A lot of convergence, a bit of divergence: Environment and interspecific interactions shape body colour patterns in Lissotriton newts

It Takes Two to Tango: Relative Influence of Male and Female Identity and Morphology on Complex Courtship Display in a Newt Species

Sensitive periods during the development and expression of vertebrate sexual signals: A systematic review

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