VARIATION IN ACOUSTIC SIGNALLING TRAITS EXHIBITS FOOTPRINTS OF SEXUAL SELECTION.
Summary of "VARIATION IN ACOUSTIC SIGNALLING TRAITS EXHIBITS FOOTPRINTS OF SEXUAL SELECTION."
Phenotypic variation is ubiquitous in nature and a precondition for adaptive evolution. However, theory predicts the extent of phenotypic variation should decrease with increasing strength of selection on a trait. Comparative analyses of trait variability have repeatedly used this expectation to infer the type or strength of selection. Yet, the suggested influence of selection on trait variability has rarely been tested empirically. In the present study I compare estimates of sexual selection strength and trait variability from published data. I constricted the analysis to acoustic courtship traits in amphibians and insects with known variability and corresponding results of female binary choice experiments on these traits. Trait variability and strength of sexual selection were significantly correlated, and both were correlated with signal duration. Since traits under stronger selection had lower variation even after the effect of signal duration was eliminated, I conclude that traces of the strength of selection can be observed with respect to variation of acoustic signalling traits in insects and amphibians. The analysis also shows that traits under stabilizing selection have significantly lower phenotypic variability than traits under directional selection.
Affiliation
University Bielefeld, Evolutionary Biology, Morgenbreede 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany E-mail: Klaus.Reinhold@uni-bielefeld.de.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
ISSN: 1558-5646
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20840596
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01130.x
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Mating Preference, Animal
The selection or choice of sexual partner in animals. Often this reproductive preference is based on traits in the potential mate, such as coloration, size, or behavioral boldness. If the chosen ones are genetically different from the rejected ones, then NATURAL SELECTION is occurring.
Small-area Analysis
A method of analyzing the variation in utilization of health care in small geographic or demographic areas. It often studies, for example, the usage rates for a given service or procedure in several small areas, documenting the variation among the areas. By comparing high- and low-use areas, the analysis attempts to determine whether there is a pattern to such use and to identify variables that are associated with and contribute to the variation.
Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological
Disturbances in sexual desire and the psychophysiologic changes that characterize the sexual response cycle and cause marked distress and interpersonal difficulty. (APA, DSM-IV, 1994)
Observer Variation
The failure by the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately, which results in an error. Sources for this may be due to the observer's missing an abnormality, or to faulty technique resulting in incorrect test measurement, or to misinterpretation of the data. Two varieties are inter-observer variation (the amount observers vary from one another when reporting on the same material) and intra-observer variation (the amount one observer varies between observations when reporting more than once on the same material).
Pedophilia
A sexual disorder occurring in a person 16 years or older and that is recurrent with intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child (generally age 13 or younger). (from APA, DSM-IV, 1994).
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