TY - JOUR
T1 - Expression of multiple sexual signals by fathers and sons in the east-mediterranean barn swallow
T2 - Are advertising strategies
AU - Vortman, Yoni
AU - Safran, Rebecca J.
AU - Brodetzki, Tali Reiner
AU - Dor, Roi
AU - Lotem, Arnon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Vortman et al.
PY - 2015/2/13
Y1 - 2015/2/13
N2 - The level of expression of sexually selected traits is generally determined by genes, environment and their interaction. In species that use multiple sexual signals which may be costly to produce, investing in the expression of one sexual signal may limit the expression of the other, favoring the evolution of a strategy for resource allocation among signals. As a result, even when the expression of sexual signals is condition dependent, the relative level of expression of each signal may be heritable. We tested this hypothesis in the East-Mediterranean barn swallow ( Hirundo rustica transitiva), in which males have been shown to express two uncorrelated sexual signals: red-brown ventral coloration, and long tail streamers. We show that variation in both signals may partially be explained by age, as well as by paternal origin (genetic father-son regressions), but that the strongest similarity between fathers and sons is the relative allocation towards one trait or the other (relative expression index), rather than the expression of the traits themselves. These results suggest that the expression of one signal is not independent of the other, and that genetic strategies for resource allocation among sexual signals may be selected for during the evolution of multiple sexual signals.
AB - The level of expression of sexually selected traits is generally determined by genes, environment and their interaction. In species that use multiple sexual signals which may be costly to produce, investing in the expression of one sexual signal may limit the expression of the other, favoring the evolution of a strategy for resource allocation among signals. As a result, even when the expression of sexual signals is condition dependent, the relative level of expression of each signal may be heritable. We tested this hypothesis in the East-Mediterranean barn swallow ( Hirundo rustica transitiva), in which males have been shown to express two uncorrelated sexual signals: red-brown ventral coloration, and long tail streamers. We show that variation in both signals may partially be explained by age, as well as by paternal origin (genetic father-son regressions), but that the strongest similarity between fathers and sons is the relative allocation towards one trait or the other (relative expression index), rather than the expression of the traits themselves. These results suggest that the expression of one signal is not independent of the other, and that genetic strategies for resource allocation among sexual signals may be selected for during the evolution of multiple sexual signals.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923241545&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0118054
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0118054
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C2 - 25679206
AN - SCOPUS:84923241545
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 10
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 2
M1 - e0118054
ER -