Dataset Information

Shape matters: animal colour patterns as signals of individual quality.

ABSTRACT: Colour patterns (e.g. irregular, spotted or barred forms) are widespread in the animal kingdom, yet their potential role as signals of quality has been mostly neglected. However, a review of the published literature reveals that pattern itself (irrespective of its size or colour intensity) is a promising signal of individual quality across species of many different taxa. We propose at least four main pathways whereby patterns may reliably reflect individual quality: (i) as conventional signals of status, (ii) as indices of developmental homeostasis, (iii) by amplifying cues of somatic integrity and (iv) by amplifying individual investment in maintenance activities. Methodological constraints have traditionally hampered research on the signalling potential of colour patterns. To overcome this, we report a series of tools (e.g. colour adjacency and pattern regularity analyses, Fourier and granularity approaches, fractal geometry, geometric morphometrics) that allow objective quantification of pattern variability. We discuss how information provided by these methods should consider the visual system of the model species and behavioural responses to pattern metrics, in order to allow biologically meaningful conclusions. Finally, we propose future challenges in this research area that will require a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together inputs from genetics, physiology, behavioural ecology and evolutionary-developmental biology.

SUBMITTER: Perez-Rodriguez L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5326527 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Shape matters: animal colour patterns as signals of individual quality.

Pérez-Rodríguez Lorenzo L Jovani Roger R Stevens Martin M

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20170201 1849

Colour patterns (e.g. irregular, spotted or barred forms) are widespread in the animal kingdom, yet their potential role as signals of quality has been mostly neglected. However, a review of the published literature reveals that pattern itself (irrespective of its size or colour intensity) is a promising signal of individual quality across species of many different taxa. We propose at least four main pathways whereby patterns may reliably reflect individual quality: (i) as conventional signals o ...[more]

PMID: 28228513

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Project description:Male lizards often display multiple pigment-based and structural colour signals which may reflect various quality traits (e.g. performance, parasitism), with testosterone (T) often mediating these relationships. Furthermore, environmental conditions can explain colour signal variation by affecting processes such as signal efficacy, thermoregulation and camouflage. The relationships between colour signals, male quality traits and environmental factors have often been analysed in isolation, but simultaneous analyses are rare. Thus, the response of multiple colour signals to variation in all these factors in an integrative analysis remains to be investigated. Here, we investigated how multiple colour signals relate to their information content, examined the role of T as a potential mediator of these relationships and how environmental factors explain colour signal variation. We performed an integrative study to examine the covariation between three colour signals (melanin-based black, carotenoid-based yellow-orange and structural UV), physiological performance, parasitism, T levels and environmental factors (microclimate, forest cover) in male common lizards Zootoca vivipara from 13 populations. We found that the three colour signals conveyed information on different aspects of male condition, supporting a multiple message hypothesis. T influenced only parasitism, suggesting that T does not directly mediate the relationships between colour signals and their information content. Moreover, colour signals became more saturated in forested habitats, suggesting an adaptation to degraded light conditions, and became generally brighter in mesic conditions, in contradiction with the thermal melanism hypothesis. We show that distinct individual quality traits and environmental factors simultaneously explain variations of multiple colour signals with different production modes. Our study therefore highlights the complexity of colour signal evolution, involving various sets of selective pressures acting at the same time, but in different ways depending on colour production mechanism.

Dataset Information

Shape matters: animal colour patterns as signals of individual quality.

Publications

Shape matters: animal colour patterns as signals of individual quality.

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