Sexual Selection and Allometry: A Critical Reappraisal of the Evidence and Ideas

Bonduriansky, Russell

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00081.x

Cited by 361 publications

(417 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(170 reference statements)

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“…A survey of intraspecific positive allometries in the sexually selected traits of extant animals reveals that the allometry we report for Pteranodon exceeds that of all but one of the traits gathered by us or others (table A2; Kodric-Brown et al 2006;Bonduriansky 2007). Hence, the head crest can be argued to represent an extreme example of positive allometry, and neither we nor Bonduriansky (2006) are aware of a naturally selected trait with an allometry to rival this. This is a pattern consistent with a trait that has a history of sexual selection.…”

Section: The Head Crest Of Pteranodon Longicepscontrasting

confidence: 58%

“…Recent advances in the understanding of patterns of allometry in sexually selected traits (Bonduriansky and Day 2003;Kodric-Brown et al 2006;Bonduriansky 2007) combined with the predictions from biomechanics and thermoregulation make the cautious use of allometry to understand the function of exaggerated traits in fossil taxa a productive area of research. Our analysis reveals patterns of allometry contradicting the arguments underlying the widely held notion that crests and sails evolved as organs dedicated to thermoregulation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bennett (1992) reports that the material was of adult specimens, suggesting the allometry is not an ontogenetic one. Even so, indeterminate growth in reptiles can lead to steeper positive allometries in secondary sexual traits than in species with determinate growth, and this might be one such example (Bonduriansky 2006). Finally there is the possibility that each individual represented a different species.…”

Section: The Head Crest Of Pteranodon Longicepsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sexual selection can take many forms (signaling, grasping, fighting, copulatory courtship, etc), and it would be naive to expect all "sexually selected" traits to be positively allometric (Bonduriansky 2007). Thus, the presence or absence of positive allometry cannot be used simply to infer the presence or absence of sexual selection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Positive Allometry and the Prehistory of Sexual Selection

Tomkins¹,

LeBas²,

Witton³

et al. 2010

The American Naturalist

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. abstract: The function of the exaggerated structures that adorn many fossil vertebrates remains largely unresolved. One recurrent hypothesis is that these elaborated traits had a role in thermoregulation. This orthodoxy persists despite the observation that traits exaggerated to the point of impracticality in extant organisms are almost invariably sexually selected. We use allometric scaling to investigate the role of sexual selection and thermoregulation in the evolution of exaggerated traits of the crested pterosaur Pteranodon longiceps and the sail-backed eupelycosaurs Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. The extraordinarily steep positive allometry of the head crest of Pteranodon rules out all of the current hypotheses for this trait's main function other than sexual signaling. We also find interspecific patterns of allometry and sexual dimorphism in the sails of Dimetrodon and patterns of elaboration in Edaphosaurus consistent with a sexually selected function. Furthermore, small ancestral, sailbacked pelycosaurs would have been too small to need adaptations to thermoregulation. Our results question the popular view that the elaborated structures of these fossil species evolved as thermoregulatory organs and provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that Pteranodon crests and eupelycosaur sails are among the earliest and most extreme examples of elaborate sexual signals in the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates.

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Section: The Head Crest Of Pteranodon Longicepscontrasting

confidence: 58%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Head Crest Of Pteranodon Longicepsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Positive Allometry and the Prehistory of Sexual Selection

Tomkins¹,

LeBas²,

Witton³

et al. 2010

The American Naturalist

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“…Comparative analyses of static allometry among populations or species suggest that most of the variation concerns the allometric intercept, while the allometric slope is less variable across taxa (Bonduriansky 2007). In the guppy, a comparison of static allometries of the caudal fin length in males among 21 natural populations from different drainages and exposed to different predation intensities revealed no effect of these ecological variables on the allometric slope, while the allometric intercept differed between geographic areas (Egset et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

On the Relationship between Ontogenetic and Static Allometry

Pélabon

Bolstad

Egset

et al. 2013

The American Naturalist

105

130

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Online enhancement: appendix tables.abstract: Ontogenetic and static allometries describe how a character changes in size when the size of the organism changes during ontogeny and among individuals measured at the same developmental stage, respectively. Understanding the relationship between these two types of allometry is crucial to understanding the evolution of allometry and, more generally, the evolution of shape. However, the effects of ontogenetic allometry on static allometry remain largely unexplored. Here, we first show analytically how individual variation in ontogenetic allometry and body size affect static allometry. Using two longitudinal data sets on ontogenetic and static allometry, we then estimate variances and covariances for the different parameters of the ontogenetic allometry defined in our model and assess their relative contribution to the static allometric slope. The mean ontogenetic allometry is the main parameter that determines the static allometric slope, while the covariance between the ontogenetic allometric slope and body size generates most of the discrepancies between ontogenetic and static allometry. These results suggest that the apparent evolutionary stasis of the static allometric slope is not generated by internal (developmental) constraints but more likely results from external constraints imposed by selection.

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Demography of an endangered, long‐lived fish: Informing management options in the face of cyclic and stochastic climate variation

Belk

Tuckfield²

2019

Population Ecology

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June sucker (Chasmistes liorus) is a long-lived, endangered fish endemic to Utah Lake, Utah. For several decades June sucker have failed to recruit sufficient numbers to the adult size classes such that the current wild population consists of a small number of old adults and it continues to decline. Vital rates of June sucker are influenced by climate-driven variation in lake level and inflow from the Provo River. We used population projection matrix modeling to assess effects of cyclic and stochastic environmental variation on population growth trajectories of June sucker in Utah Lake. The stable stage distribution is dominated by stage 1 individuals (93% of the total population) in contrast to the current situation where old age classes are the most abundant. Total population size is highly influenced by the stochastic component of climate variation; whereas, the adult population of June sucker closely tracks the systematic drought cycle. If changes in survival of larvae and juveniles can be coordinated such that positive changes in both parameters can occur somewhat simultaneously, then each parameter would only have to be increased by a factor of about 8.8 to achieve sustainable population growth (compared to a 77-fold increase for each parameter separately). Stochastic climatic variation has relatively little long-term effect on population growth. However, the multidecadal cyclic pattern of lake level and river discharge imposes a similar pattern on population growth rates of the June sucker, such that during some periods, populations decline even when the long-term trend is positive. K E Y W O R D SChasmistes liorus, drought cycle, periodic life history strategy, population projection matrix, stochastic climate variation

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Sexual Selection and Allometry: A Critical Reappraisal of the Evidence and Ideas

Cited by 361 publications

References 91 publications

Positive Allometry and the Prehistory of Sexual Selection

Positive Allometry and the Prehistory of Sexual Selection

On the Relationship between Ontogenetic and Static Allometry

Demography of an endangered, long‐lived fish: Informing management options in the face of cyclic and stochastic climate variation

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