0459714 - ÚBO 2017 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Vitousek, M. N. - Tomášek, Oldřich - Albrecht, Tomáš - Wilkins, M. R. - Safran, R. J.
Signal traits and oxidative stress: a comparative study across populations with divergent signals.
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Roč. 4, č. 56 (2016), s. 56. ISSN 2296-701X. E-ISSN 2296-701X
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LH14045
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : sexual selection * social selection * speciation * physiology * antioxidants * barn swallows * Hirundo rustica
OECD category: Ecology
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2016.00056/full

Diverging populations often shift patterns of signal use – a process that can contribute to reproductive isolation and speciation. Yet it is not clear why most traits gain or lose signal value during divergence. One reason this could occur is because changes in the relationship between signals and relevant physiological parameters degrade the reliability of a signal, or even change its underlying information content. Here we test whether signal trait elaboration is differently related to a central component of organismal health – oxidative stress – across populations that differ in signal use and preferences. In the recently diverged barn swallow subspecies complex (Hirundo rustica), different populations use different traits as sexual signals. Two of these traits, ventral breast plumage color and tail streamer length, differ markedly between North American H. r. erythrogaster and European H. r. rustica. Despite this divergence, variation in ventral plumage color was similarly associated with measures of oxidative damage across both populations. However, the directionality of these relationships differed between the sexes: darker male barn swallows had higher levels of plasma oxidative damage than their lighter counterparts, while the opposite relationship was seen in females. In contrast, relationships between tail streamer length and measures of oxidative stress were not consistent across populations. In European H. r. rustica, where males bearing elongated streamers are preferred as mates, longer-streamered males appeared to be more oxidatively stressed, whereas the opposite pattern was suggested in North American H. r. erythrogaster. Overall, our results suggest that while some phenotypic traits appear to be capable of conveying similar physiological information regardless of their use as signals, divergence in other phenotypic traits may be associated with shifts in their information content.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0259883