Joint effects of female preference intensity and frequency‐dependent predation on the polymorphism maintenance in aposematic sexual traits

Ponkshe, Aditya; Endler, John A.

doi:10.1002/ece3.9356

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…As in other groups, the maintenance of color polymorphisms in amphibians is likely explained by a combination of several evolutionary processes, such as overdominance, non‐random mating and/or source‐sink dynamics (Gray & McKinnon, 2007; Jamie & Meier, 2020; Ponkshe & Endler, 2022; Roulin & Bize, 2007; Wellenreuther et al., 2014). Likewise, landscape composition, predation pressures and sexual selection have been shown to shape color morph frequencies in amphibians (Hantak et al., 2019; Rich et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Color morphs of the fire salamander are discriminated at night by conspecifics and predators

Aguilar,

Pérez i de Lanuza,

Martínez‐Gil

et al. 2023

Journal of Zoology

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The coexistence of multiple discrete color phenotypes (i.e. color polymorphism) has been studied in many diurnal species where environmental light allows most visual systems to chromatically discriminate color morphs. However, there is a large gap in our understanding of the discrimination thresholds and the function color polymorphisms play at night. We collected spectral data from the throats of red‐ and yellow‐morph males in a polymorphic population of the nocturnal amphibian Salamandra salamandra gallaica. We estimated the discriminability between morphs and their conspicuousness at night by fitting visual models of conspecifics and predators. We also collected morphological, behavioral and physiological data and assessed the abundance and activity patterns of each morph to explore their potential function. Visual models indicated that both conspecifics and predators can visually discriminate salamander color morphs under night‐light conditions. Assuming the potential role of yellow and red color patches as visual signals, putatively related to social signaling, we could suspect that these colors represent different adaptive optima. Red‐morph individuals had shorter bodies and lower body condition, but both morphs showed similar space use. In addition, both color morphs exhibited similar metabolic physiology, suggesting that the observed similarity in these traits may be better explained by the shared environmental conditions, rather than color. Finally, differences in the conspicuousness of red and yellow morphs could result in differential predation pressure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Color morphs of the fire salamander are discriminated at night by conspecifics and predators

Aguilar,

Pérez i de Lanuza,

Martínez‐Gil

et al. 2023

Journal of Zoology

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The ‘sexual selection hypothesis’ for the origin of aposematism

Maisonneuve,

Aubier

2024

Preprint

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The evolution of aposematism, in which prey exhibit conspicuous signals indicating the presence of anti-predator defenses, is puzzling. Before predators learn to associate the signal with defense, increased visibility makes the conspicuous prey highly vulnerable to predation. Although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of aposematism, they often assume that only predators recognize these signals. Yet, many studies show that aposematism signals can also be involved in mate choice. Here, we demonstrate that some aposematic signals may have originally evolved as mating signals driven by sexual selection. In this study, we analyze a mathematical model to explore how sexual selection can drive the evolution of aposematism. We thereby identify key features of this `sexual selection hypothesis' for the origin of aposematism to be tested with empirical data. Our results show that the evolution of conspicuous signals through sexual selection increases the visibility of prey to predators and thus predation pressure. This, in turn, promotes the evolution of defense mechanisms, ultimately leading to aposematism when predators learn to associate the signal with defense. Additionally, we show that when sexual selection drives the evolution of aposematism, it often results in sexual dimorphism in both signaling and defense traits. These findings call for further research into the role of sexual selection in the evolution of aposematism.

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Joint effects of female preference intensity and frequency‐dependent predation on the polymorphism maintenance in aposematic sexual traits

Abstract: Classical theory suggests that aposematic traits should have low variance (Endler, 1988;Endler & Mappes, 2004), yet many species show variation in these traits within and between populations in a vari-

Cited by 2 publications

References 41 publications

Color morphs of the fire salamander are discriminated at night by conspecifics and predators

Color morphs of the fire salamander are discriminated at night by conspecifics and predators

The ‘sexual selection hypothesis’ for the origin of aposematism

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