1
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Freiler MK, Smith GT. Neuroendocrine mechanisms contributing to the coevolution of sociality and communication. Front Neuroendocrinol 2023; 70:101077. [PMID: 37217079 PMCID: PMC10527162 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2023.101077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Communication is inherently social, so signaling systems should evolve with social systems. The 'social complexity hypothesis' posits that social complexity necessitates communicative complexity and is generally supported in vocalizing mammals. This hypothesis, however, has seldom been tested outside the acoustic modality, and comparisons across studies are confounded by varying definitions of complexity. Moreover, proximate mechanisms underlying coevolution of sociality and communication remain largely unexamined. In this review, we argue that to uncover how sociality and communication coevolve, we need to examine variation in the neuroendocrine mechanisms that coregulate social behavior and signal production and perception. Specifically, we focus on steroid hormones, monoamines, and nonapeptides, which modulate both social behavior and sensorimotor circuits and are likely targets of selection during social evolution. Lastly, we highlight weakly electric fishes as an ideal system in which to comparatively address the proximate mechanisms underlying relationships between social and signal diversity in a novel modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan K Freiler
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
| | - G Troy Smith
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
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2
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Miller AE, Hogan BG, Stoddard MC. Color in motion: Generating 3-dimensional multispectral models to study dynamic visual signals in animals. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.983369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Analyzing color and pattern in the context of motion is a central and ongoing challenge in the quantification of animal coloration. Many animal signals are spatially and temporally variable, but traditional methods fail to capture this dynamism because they use stationary animals in fixed positions. To investigate dynamic visual displays and to understand the evolutionary forces that shape dynamic colorful signals, we require cross-disciplinary methods that combine measurements of color, pattern, 3-dimensional (3D) shape, and motion. Here, we outline a workflow for producing digital 3D models with objective color information from museum specimens with diffuse colors. The workflow combines multispectral imaging with photogrammetry to produce digital 3D models that contain calibrated ultraviolet (UV) and human-visible (VIS) color information and incorporate pattern and 3D shape. These “3D multispectral models” can subsequently be animated to incorporate both signaler and receiver movement and analyzed in silico using a variety of receiver-specific visual models. This approach—which can be flexibly integrated with other tools and methods—represents a key first step toward analyzing visual signals in motion. We describe several timely applications of this workflow and next steps for multispectral 3D photogrammetry and animation techniques.
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3
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Anderson NK, Gururaja KV, Mangiamele LA, Netoskie EC, Smith S, Fuxjager MJ, Preininger D. Insight into the Evolution of Anuran Foot Flag Displays: A Comparative Study of Color and Kinematics. ICHTHYOLOGY & HERPETOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1643/h2020160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Nigel K. Anderson
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912; (NKA) ; and (MJF) . Send reprint requests to NKA
| | - K. V. Gururaja
- Research and Development Center and Science Media Center, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Gubbi Labs, Bengaluru 560012, India;
| | - Lisa A. Mangiamele
- Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063; (LAM) ; and (SS)
| | - Erin C. Netoskie
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania 16652;
| | - Sarah Smith
- Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063; (LAM) ; and (SS)
| | - Matthew J. Fuxjager
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912; (NKA) ; and (MJF) . Send reprint requests to NKA
| | - Doris Preininger
- Vienna Zoo, 1130 Vienna, Austria; Department of Evolutionary Biology, University Vienna, Austria;
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4
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Echeverri SA, Miller AE, Chen J, McQueen EW, Plakke M, Spicer M, Hoke KL, Stoddard MC, Morehouse NI. How signaling geometry shapes the efficacy and evolution of animal communication systems. Integr Comp Biol 2021; 61:787-813. [PMID: 34021338 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icab090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal communication is inherently spatial. Both signal transmission and signal reception have spatial biases-involving direction, distance and position-that interact to determine signaling efficacy. Signals, be they visual, acoustic, or chemical, are often highly directional. Likewise, receivers may only be able to detect signals if they arrive from certain directions. Alignment between these directional biases is therefore critical for effective communication, with even slight misalignments disrupting perception of signaled information. In addition, signals often degrade as they travel from signaler to receiver, and environmental conditions that impact transmission can vary over even small spatiotemporal scales. Thus, how animals position themselves during communication is likely to be under strong selection. Despite this, our knowledge regarding the spatial arrangements of signalers and receivers during communication remains surprisingly coarse for most systems. We know even less about how signaler and receiver behaviors contribute to effective signaling alignment over time, or how signals themselves may have evolved to influence and/or respond to these aspects of animal communication. Here, we first describe why researchers should adopt a more explicitly geometric view of animal signaling, including issues of location, direction, and distance. We then describe how environmental and social influences introduce further complexities to the geometry of signaling. We discuss how multimodality offers new challenges and opportunities for signalers and receivers. We conclude with recommendations and future directions made visible by attention to the geometry of signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Audrey E Miller
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
| | - Jason Chen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.,Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Eden W McQueen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Melissa Plakke
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
| | - Michelle Spicer
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.,Biology Department, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
| | - Kim L Hoke
- Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
| | | | - Nathan I Morehouse
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
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5
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Valencia-Montoya WA, Quental TB, Tonini JFR, Talavera G, Crall JD, Lamas G, Busby RC, Carvalho APS, Morais AB, Oliveira Mega N, Romanowski HP, Liénard MA, Salzman S, Whitaker MRL, Kawahara AY, Lohman DJ, Robbins RK, Pierce NE. Evolutionary trade-offs between male secondary sexual traits revealed by a phylogeny of the hyperdiverse tribe Eumaeini (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202512. [PMID: 33975481 PMCID: PMC8113907 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Male butterflies in the hyperdiverse tribe Eumaeini possess an unusually complex and diverse repertoire of secondary sexual characteristics involved in pheromone production and dissemination. Maintaining multiple sexually selected traits is likely to be metabolically costly, potentially resulting in trade-offs in the evolution of male signals. However, a phylogenetic framework to test hypotheses regarding the evolution and maintenance of male sexual traits in Eumaeini has been lacking. Here, we infer a comprehensive, time-calibrated phylogeny from 379 loci for 187 species representing 91% of the 87 described genera. Eumaeini is a monophyletic group that originated in the late Oligocene and underwent rapid radiation in the Neotropics. We examined specimens of 818 of the 1096 described species (75%) and found that secondary sexual traits are present in males of 91% of the surveyed species. Scent pads and scent patches on the wings and brush organs associated with the genitalia were probably present in the common ancestor of Eumaeini and are widespread throughout the tribe. Brush organs and scent pads are negatively correlated across the phylogeny, exhibiting a trade-off in which lineages with brush organs are unlikely to regain scent pads and vice versa. In contrast, scent patches seem to facilitate the evolution of scent pads, although they are readily lost once scent pads have evolved. Our results illustrate the complex interplay between natural and sexual selection in the origin and maintenance of multiple male secondary sexual characteristics and highlight the potential role of sexual selection spurring diversification in this lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wendy A. Valencia-Montoya
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Tiago B. Quental
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
| | - João Filipe R. Tonini
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Gerard Talavera
- Institut Botànic de Barcelona (IBB, CSIC-Ajuntament de Barcelona), 08038 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - James D. Crall
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Gerardo Lamas
- Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | | | - Ana Paula S. Carvalho
- McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Ana B. Morais
- Departamento de Ecologia e Evolução, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brasil
| | - Nicolás Oliveira Mega
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS 91501970, Brazil
| | - Helena Piccoli Romanowski
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS 91501970, Brazil
| | | | - Shayla Salzman
- School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Melissa R. L. Whitaker
- Entomological Collection, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Akito Y. Kawahara
- McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - David J. Lohman
- Biology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
- PhD Program in Biology, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Entomology Section, Zoology Division, Philippine National Museum of Natural History, Manila 1000, Philippines
| | - Robert K. Robbins
- Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA
| | - Naomi E. Pierce
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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6
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Romero-Diaz C, Pruett JA, Campos SM, Ossip-Drahos AG, Zúñiga-Vega JJ, Vital-García C, Hews DK, Martins EP. Evolutionary loss of a signalling colour is linked to increased response to conspecific chemicals. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210256. [PMID: 33784866 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioural responses to communicative signals combine input from multiple sensory modalities and signal compensation theory predicts that evolutionary shifts in one sensory modality could impact the response to signals in other sensory modalities. Here, we conducted two types of field experiments with 11 species spread across the lizard genus Sceloporus to test the hypothesis that the loss of visual signal elements affects behavioural responses to a chemical signal (conspecific scents) or to a predominantly visual signal (a conspecific lizard), both of which are used in intraspecific communication. We found that three species that have independently lost a visual signal trait, a colourful belly patch, responded to conspecific scents with increased chemosensory behaviour compared to a chemical control, while species with the belly patch did not. However, most species, with and without the belly patch, responded to live conspecifics with increased visual displays of similar magnitude. While aggressive responses to visual stimuli are taxonomically widespread in Sceloporus, our results suggest that increased chemosensory response behaviour is linked to colour patch loss. Thus, interactions across sensory modalities could constrain the evolution of complex signalling phenotypes, thereby influencing signal diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jake A Pruett
- Department of Biology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK, USA
| | - Stephanie M Campos
- Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Alison G Ossip-Drahos
- Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Marian University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - J Jaime Zúñiga-Vega
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, México
| | - Cuauhcihuatl Vital-García
- Departamento de Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, México
| | - Diana K Hews
- Department of Biology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, USA
| | - Emília P Martins
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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7
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Medina I, Kilner RM, Langmore NE. From micro- to macroevolution: brood parasitism as a driver of phenotypic diversity in birds. Curr Zool 2020; 66:515-526. [PMID: 33293930 PMCID: PMC7705515 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaa033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
A fundamental question in biology is how diversity evolves and why some clades are more diverse than others. Phenotypic diversity has often been shown to result from morphological adaptation to different habitats. The role of behavioral interactions as a driver of broadscale phenotypic diversity has received comparatively less attention. Behavioral interactions, however, are a key agent of natural selection. Antagonistic behavioral interactions with predators or with parasites can have significant fitness consequences, and hence act as strong evolutionary forces on the phenotype of species, ultimately generating diversity between species of both victims and exploiters. Avian obligate brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other species, their hosts, and this behavioral interaction between hosts and parasites is often considered one of the best examples of coevolution in the natural world. In this review, we use the coevolution between brood parasites and their hosts to illustrate the potential of behavioral interactions to drive evolution of phenotypic diversity at different taxonomic scales. We provide a bridge between behavioral ecology and macroevolution by describing how this interaction has increased avian phenotypic diversity not only in the brood parasitic clades but also in their hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iliana Medina
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Rebecca M Kilner
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Naomi E Langmore
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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8
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Tobiansky DJ, Fuxjager MJ. Sex Steroids as Regulators of Gestural Communication. Endocrinology 2020; 161:5822602. [PMID: 32307535 PMCID: PMC7316366 DOI: 10.1210/endocr/bqaa064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Gestural communication is ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom, occurring in species that range from humans to arthropods. Individuals produce gestural signals when their nervous system triggers the production of limb and body movement, which in turn functions to help mediate communication between or among individuals. Like many stereotyped motor patterns, the probability of a gestural display in a given social context can be modulated by sex steroid hormones. Here, we review how steroid hormones mediate the neural mechanisms that underly gestural communication in humans and nonhumans alike. This is a growing area of research, and thus we explore how sex steroids mediate brain areas involved in language production, social behavior, and motor performance. We also examine the way that sex steroids can regulate behavioral output by acting in the periphery via skeletal muscle. Altogether, we outline a new avenue of behavioral endocrinology research that aims to uncover the hormonal basis for one of the most common modes of communication among animals on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Tobiansky
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
- Correspondence: Daniel J. Tobiansky, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912.
| | - Matthew J Fuxjager
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
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9
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Miles MC, Schuppe ER, Fuxjager MJ. Selection for Rhythm as a Trigger for Recursive Evolution in the Elaborate Display System of Woodpeckers. Am Nat 2020; 195:772-787. [PMID: 32364790 DOI: 10.1086/707748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Evolution is never truly predictable, in part because the process of selection is recursive: it operates on its own output to generate historical contingencies, so emergent traits can reshape how others evolve in the future. Studies rarely attempt to directly trace how recursion underlies present-day phenotypic pattern on a macroevolutionary basis. To address this gap, we examined how different selection regimes-each operating on a different timescale-guide the evolution of the woodpecker drum display. Approximately 200 species drum with distinctive speed and length, which are important for territorial competition. We discovered remarkable variation in drum rhythm, with some species drumming at constant rates and others changing speed along a range of mathematical functions. Rhythm undergoes divergent character displacement among sympatric sister species, a process that wanes as other reproductive boundaries emerge over time. Tracing the recursive effects of this process, we found that modifying rhythm may then potentiate or constrain speed/length elaboration. Additionally, increased sexual size dimorphism predicts the emergence of rhythms associated with constrained evolutionary rates of speed/length, implying that selection can also constrain itself. Altogether, our findings illustrate how recursion introduces contingencies that allow diverse phenotypes to arise from similar selection regimes.
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10
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Menezes JCT, Santos ESA. Habitat structure drives the evolution of aerial displays in birds. J Anim Ecol 2019; 89:482-493. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2019] [Accepted: 10/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- João C. T. Menezes
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
- BECO do Departamento de Zoologia Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Eduardo S. A. Santos
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
- BECO do Departamento de Zoologia Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
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