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Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal.

ABSTRACT: Sensory drive theory contends that signaling systems should evolve to optimize transmission between senders and intended receivers, while minimizing visibility to eavesdroppers where possible. In visual communication systems, the high directionality afforded by iridescent coloration presents underappreciated avenues for mediating this trade-off. This hypothesis predicts functional links between signal design and presentation such that visual conspicuousness is maximized only under ecologically relevant settings and/or to select audiences. We addressed this prediction using Hypolimnas bolina, a butterfly in which males possess ultraviolet markings on their dorsal wing surfaces with a narrow angular reflectance function. Males bearing brighter dorsal markings are increasingly attractive to females, but also likely more conspicuous to predators. Our data indicate that, during courtship (and given the ritualized wingbeat dynamics at these times), males position themselves relative to females in such a way as to simultaneously maximize three components of known or putative signal conspicuousness: brightness, area, and iridescent flash. This suggests that male signal design and display have coevolved for the delivery of an optimally conspicuous signal to courted females. More broadly, these findings imply a potential signaling role for iridescence itself, and pose a novel example for how signal design may coevolve with the behavioral context of display.

SUBMITTER: White TE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4312914 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundMetapopulation persistence in fragmented landscapes is assured by dispersal of individuals between local populations. In this scenario the landscape topography, although usually neglected, may have an important role in shaping dispersal throughout the matrix separating habitat patches. Due to inter-sexual differences in optimal reproductive strategies, i.e., males maximizing the number of mating opportunities and females maximizing the offspring survival chances, topography-related constraints are expected to exert a different effect on male and female dispersal behaviour. We tested sex-biased topography effects on butterfly dispersal, with the following hypotheses: (1) females are constrained by topography in their movements and avoid hill crossing; (2) male dispersal is primarily driven by two-dimensional spatial structure of the habitat patches (i.e. their geometric locations and sizes) and little influenced by topography.MethodsFollowing intensive mark-recapture surveys of Maculinea (= Phengaris) nausithous and M. teleius within a landscape characterised by an alternation of hills and valleys, we investigated sex-specific patterns in their inter-patch movement probabilities derived with a multi-state recapture model. In particular, we (1) analysed the fit of dispersal kernels based on Euclidean (= straight line) vs. topography-based (= through valley) distances; (2) compared movement probabilities for the pairs of patches separated or not by topographic barriers; and (3) tested the differences in the downward and upward movement probabilities within the pairs of patches.ResultsEuclidean distances between patches proved to be a substantially stronger predictor of inter-patch movement probabilities in males, while inter-patch distances measured along valleys performed much better for females, indicating that the latter tend to predominantly follow valleys when dispersing. In addition, there were significantly lower probabilities of movements across hills in females, but not in males.ConclusionsBoth above results provide support for the hypothesis that topography restricts dispersal in females, but not in males. Since the two sexes contribute differently to metapopulation functioning, i.e., only female dispersal can result in successful (re)colonisations of vacant patches, the topography effects exerted on females should be considered with particular attention when landscape management and conservation actions are designed in order to maintain the functional connectivity of metapopulation systems.

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Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal.

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